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McSwiggan, Francis, 1896-1981, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/298
  • Person
  • 14 April 1896-26 October 1981

Born: 14 April 1896, Forkhill, County Armagh
Entered: 29 March 1921, Manresa, Roehampton, London / St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1933, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1936, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway
Died: 26 October 1981, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway

by 1935 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Clerk before Entry; Transcribed from ANG to HIB 05 January 1922

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 57th Year No 1 1982
Obituary

Fr Francis McSwiggan (1896-1921-1981)

Born in Forkhill, Co Armagh, in 1896. Fr McSwiggan entered the Society at Manresa, Roehampton, on 29th March 1921, and came to Tullabeg during his noviceship. We (fellow-novices of his, who had entered on 31st August 1921) understood that he had been working in England, and so joined the Society there. As he was hoping to work in Ireland, the transfer to the Irish noviceship was arranged.
He was then 25 years old, while most of us, just out of school, were 16, 17 or 18. “Mac”, as we came to know him, was quiet, not talkative, with little sense of humour. He was not amused by the fiddle-faddles which sent young novices into fits of giggles.
Noviceships are normally uneventful, the one event of his noviceship which stands out in memory was his vow-day, Easter Sunday, 1923, when he could easily have been shot dead. We novices were out on a long-table day walk to Bellair hill some eight miles away. The road from Tullabeg to Ballycumber, after passing the Island chapel, crossed the railway line from Clara to Ferbane and Banagher. The hump-backed bridge over the line has since been demolished and the railway itself is closed.)
The Civil War was on at the time, and the “irregulars” (as those of the IRA who would not accept the Free State were called) had blown up a railway bridge over a stream about two hundred yards from where we crossed the line. They had set in motion a train from Clara, with no one on it, and when it came to the blown-up bridge, it overturned and rolled down the embankment.
On their walk, several novices went down the line to inspect the wreckage. It was guarded by Free State soldiers under a jittery young officer, who was highly suspicious of several groups of young men converging on him across the bog. Someone explained that we were clerical students out for a walk: but when he saw three more standing on the bridge staring down, he yelled and signalled to them to move off. Perhaps they did not hear him. They did not move, just stood staring; “Mac” in the middle, Fr Charlie Daly (Hong Kong) and if I remember aright Jock Finnegan who later left us. Seizing his rifle and taking aim, the officer announced in lurid language that he'd soon shift them to hell out of that. An older novice prevailed on him not to fire: they were only four fellows and hadn't heard him: he (the novice) would run up the line and get them to move on: which he did. Thus Fr “Mac” could easily have been shot dead on his vow-day.
Instead, a long life of faithful devoted work was opening before him. The 1923 Status sent him to Milltown for philosophy. In 1926 he went as Doc to Belvedere for four years, going on to theology in Milltown (1930-34, ordained 1933) and tertianship in St Beuno's (1934-35). Fr Geddes, the Instructor, asked the next year's tertians where those of the previous year had gone. “Wot?”, he exclaimed, “Fr McSwiggan, Prefect of Studies at Galway! Is he then supposed to be a very learned person?”
Whatever about that, he filled the post for five years before going to Clongowes for four years teaching, when he was a very popular confessor with the boys. In 1944 he moved to the big study in Mungret for two years, then back to Belvedere teaching till 1956, when he transferred to St Ignatius, Galway, as operarius, long in charge of the Apostleship of Prayer. Of those years, those who lived with him, All of us, however, who knew him are glad to think of him enjoying at the end his Master's welcome: Euge, serve bone et fidelis ... (Mt 25:21).

Mac, as he was known to those who lived with him, was a man of his period and his North of Ireland upbringing. He grew up in the faith of the minority, a minority that had to struggle for its rights and even its existence, and whose members were second-class citizens, for the most part poor and despised. Because of this a certain amount of iron and hardness had entered his soul, a certain intolerance and dogmatism, Everything in faith and morals as taught and interpreted in his upbringing, schooling and training became de fide definita, to be held rigidly: everything was either black or white; nothing was shaded or grey. He had a touch of bigotry in him, and if by chance he had been born into the other faith, he would have been a fundamentalist, an extremist.
His views were rigid, but in application to the individual and in giving direction tempered by his innate kindness, so it is easy to understand how he was a popular confessor to the boys in Clongowes and later from 1956 onwards, in the church in Galway, till deafness first and ill-health later forced him to give up church work. He carefully prepared his sermons, but his delivery was not the best: he was inclined to rush and elide words. He was assiduous in hearing confessions and indefatigable in bringing holy Communion to the sick and housebound.
For many years he was Director of the Apostleship of Prayer, which entailed the giving of the Holy Hour month after month. To increase the attendance he tried various ways: promise cards, handbills etc.; but berated those in attendance for the shortcomings of those who did not attend and who did not respond to his efforts and appeals. As Director he visited various schools in the city to promote devotion to the Sacred Heart and to increase the circulation of the Messenger. In his earlier years, as a priest teaching in the colleges, as well as giving retreats here and there around the country, he spent a good part of what was left of his summer holidays acting as chaplain to the staff and children of Sunshine House. Balbriggan. In later years when attached to the church he spent his villa period doing supply work in Liverpool. He was a man of zeal, a hard worker and a man of prayer.
He was very competent in Irish and keen on poetry. He even made some translations of Irish poetry into English, faithfully reproducing the metre, internal shyness, assonance and other features of the original in the translations. Unfortunately he wrote these (as he wrote his sermons) on odd scraps of paper or in already-used copybooks between the lines or in the margins, so few will have survived. In his last years, when he was more or less confined to his room, he became interested in puzzles, intellectual problems and short stories. He tried out his puzzles on his friends, and often spoilt the stories by enjoying their humour so much that he would break down with laughter before his hearers could see the point. He was fascinated by the universe and awed by its vastness and complexity, so he took an interest in astronomy and space exploration. To the end his mind remained clear and sharp and he kept it so with these interests.
Being a man of a fixed mould of mind, even more perhaps than others who had received similar formation and training, he found the post-Vatican II period disturbing and found it hard to accept some of the new thinking, new developments and adaptations: some of these he criticised quite openly, and his criticisms could be quite harsh! He was a keen observer and a sharp critic of the faults and failings of Ours, for he judged us all by the yardstick of his own self, and if we did not measure up to that, he let us know. Yet while his criticism was often sharp and hurt somewhat, because of some innate human quality in the man, no one ever resented it too much: all still had an affection for “old Mac”.
His death must have been the easiest event in his whole life. On 26th October 1981 he took his lunch in his room and lay down to rest, Shortly afterwards the good nun who looked after him came and found him on the point of passing away. She called the Minister, who anointed him, and before the end of the rite he had gone to his Lord and Master without stress or strain like a child dropping off to sleep. May he rest in peace.

McSwiney, Patrick, 1639-1695, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1735
  • Person
  • 17 March 1639-21 May 1695

Born: 17 March 1639, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 11 March 1658, Toulouse, France - Tolosanae Province (TOLO)
Ordained: 20 April 1669, Tournon, France
Final Vows: 15 August 1675
Died: 21 May 1695, County Cork

Alias Swiny

1660 Patrick Swyni at Toulouse College, taught Grammar and much progress in Philosophy
1671 Set out for Ireland from TOLO Province

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1671 Sent to Cork
1694 Was labouring amidst much privation and distress in a wild part of the country. His knowledge of the native Irish language rendered him specially useful among the poor.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
1660-1662 After First Vows he studied Philosophy at Toulouse
1662-1666 He was sent for four years Regency at Agen and Béziers
1666-1670 Sent to Tournon for Theology and was Ordained there 20 April 1669
1670-1671 Made Tertianship at Toulouse
1671 Sent to Ireland and Cork - like his contemporary of TOLO Dermot Cronin - where his command of Irish enabled him to exercise a fruitful ministry in that Irish-speaking territory. Also like Fr Cronin, he lived in apostolic poverty and died there prematurely 21 May 1695
In a tribute to his memory paid by the General, Tirso González de Santalla, he was described as “vir doctus non minus quam indeffessus semper studii et laboris”

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
MAC-SWINEY, PATRICK. After finishing his studies at Toulouse, he came to the Irish Mission in 1671, and was stationed in County Cork. Twenty-three years later he was still labouring, amidst much distress and privation, in a wild part of the country. His skill in the Irish language rendered his ministry specially useful to his very poor parishioners.

McWilliams, Patrick, 1861-1950, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/299
  • Person
  • 11 June 1861-02 July 1950

Born: 11 June 1861, Toomebridge, Creagh, County Antrim
Entered: 23 September 1891, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 19 June 1887
Final Vows: 15 August 1906, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 02 July 1950, Crescent College, Limerick

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 25th Year No 4 1950

Obituary

Fr. Patrick McWilliams (1861-1891-1950)

Father Patrick McWilliams was born on the 11th of June, 1861, at Creagh, Toomebridge. The third youngest of eight children, be went to his father's school for his primary education before proceeding to the seminary at Armagh. After a short period in the seminary he went to Maynooth in 1883 and, in 1887, was ordained there for the Archdiocese of Armagh. He entered the Society on the 23rd of September, 1891. He was sent to the Crescent in 1895, where, with the exception of one year (1901-02), when he was stationed in Tullabeg, he remained until his death.
In his early years at the Crescent he was a member of the Mission Staff. For a few years his name figured on the roll of the College Staff. From 1912-48 he was the Spiritual Director of the Ladies Sodality of the Children of Mary. From the beginning of his stay in the Crescent he was an operarius, and he carried out that role in full, without fail and to the end. His career in the Crescent was characterised not by spasmodic incident but by rigorous attention. to duty. For generations of Limerick people he was the model priest : serene of temperament, a patient listener, with admirable judgment, ever ready to help others, the trusted director of souls. Many people came long distances to consult him on some intricate problem. And yet, he who was the gifted confidant of so many adults, had also the unusual and well-remembered talent for hearing the confessions of little children. It has been said often since his death that “all Limerick must have made their first confession to Father McWilliams”.
Until the end he was unfailingly exact in his attention to his duties as confessor and preacher as well as to all the duties of community life. Until the end his well prepared sermons were delivered with a verve and resonance that made them heard even by the men standing at the back of the church. He grew old gracefully : he ever retained his handsome mien and upright carriage. He grew old gracefully, without angularity of character, without laying the burden of his duties on the shoulders of others, without complaint. And he died as he had lived - serene and without fuss.

Appreciation :
Nearly all his priestly life, was spent in the rather obscure work of preacher and confessor in a provincial town. But what a life! He became one of the landmarks of Limerick, known and revered and referenced by man, woman and child in the city. Thousands sought his solace in the confessional and parlours. He was a tower of strength to the weak. He poured consolation into the hearts of the depressed. He was ever ready to help the poor and the needy and to restore peace to the harassed soul. It is no exaggeration to say that there was hardly ever a priest in Limerick who wielded such influence and always for the greater glory of God. His thoroughness, his sincerity, his all embracing charity quarried for him a way to the hearts of all.
His sermons were models of lucidity and phraseology, always carefully prepared and always delivered with grace and dignity. He never preached a bad sermon in his life and of the thousands of sermons he preached one of the most eloquent was the one he preached a few weeks before his last illness - to be exact 25th March - a sermon that excited the admiration of many of his audience and - let us say - the envy of some members of the community who heard it. He did not, however, strive after effect. He had a message to deliver - the Master's Message - and he delivered it to his hearers in a way that pleased as well as instructed. The words of the poet may very well be applied to him:
“His preaching much but more his practice wrought
A burning sermon of the truths he taught
In manner simple, grave, sincere,
In doctrine incorrupt; in language plain
As well becomes a messenger of grace to sinful man”.
He united doctrine with exhortation and thus appealed to mind and heart. He strove to make his hearers not merely wise, but good. Conscious of his mission he was anxious that his audience should feel conscious, too, that life was no sluggard's paradise into which they had wandered by chance, but a battlefield from which there is no escape.
He was a very good moral theologian - of sound and ripe judgment and quick to grasp all sides of the question. When he had charge of the Cases of Conscience his summing up at the end was often a master piece of clarity and erudition.
His knowledge of people was phenomenal. He seemed to have contacts in the most remote villages of the country. Enquiries respecting him came from the most remote places. Priests and religious had the greatest confidence in him.. And no wonder! He was a true shepherd and no mercenary. He drew all towards Heaven by gentleness and good example,
Always kind and gentle when gentleness and kindness were demanded, he could be very severe on occasions and it must be said he did not suffer fools gladly. If he had to speak he spoke fearlessly and boldly. He didn't believe in doing things by halves. He was forthright in word and action. He had ever the calm and coolness of the truly courageous man. He did not shun the hives because the bees had stings. His devotion to duty was beyond all praise. Wherever he was supposed to be, whether in the pulpit or Box or at the Altar there he was to be found. He did not choose, Beau Brummell fashion, to be always late and therefore he never deserved the sharp admonition from an Abercorn. His work was perhaps of the humdrum type, but what more beautiful, what more satisfying than the calm and resolute determination of the priest to feed the flock entrusted to his care. No wonder his passing called forth such profound grief and sorrow in the city. The Church was packed with mourners for the Requiem Mass. His Lordship the Bishop presided and about fifty priests attended in the Choir. He has bequeathed to us all his example as a legacy. The consciousness of duty well-performed and the public voice of praise that honours virtue: all that was his
The virtues of those whose faces we shall see no more appear greater and more sacred when viewed through the medium of the grave. Irving it is who says the grave buries every error, covers every defect, extinguishes every resentment. It may be truly said of Fr. McWilliams that, "taken all in all, we shall not see his like again," Full of years and merit, mourned by all who knew him, he has passed on. God rest his soul.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Patrick McWilliams SJ 1861-1950
The name of Fr Patrick McWilliams wil ever be associated with Limerick and the Crescent.

Born at Toomebridge in 1861, he entered the Society as a priest in 1891, For the whole of his long life, one year excepted, he worked as Operarius in the Church of the Sacred Heart, Limerick. He was known as a confessor and guide far and wide to both priests and layfolk. At the same time he was alo a favourite for children’s confessions. When he died on March 29th 1850, it was said of him “that all Limerick must have made their first Confession to Fr McWilliams”.

Shrewd, kindly, a keen and accurate judge of character, the Province lost in him one of its model priests and rare spiritual guides.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Community

Father Patrick McWilliams (1861-1950)

Was born on the 11th June, 1861, at Creagh, Toomebridge. He received his early education at his father's school and in St Patrick's College, Armagh. He was ordained, for the archdiocese of Armagh, in 1887 at Maynooth where he had done his higher studies. Four years later, on 23 September, he entered the Society. He joined the Crescent community in 1895 and, with the exception of one year, 1901-02, when he was stationed at Tullabeg, he remained in Limerick until his death. From the beginning of his assignment to Limerick up to the end, he laboured as confessor and preacher in the Sacred Heart Church. In his early years, however, at the Crescent, he was engaged also as a master in the school. Within the Society, Father McWilliams was one of the most revered Jesuits of his time. Throughout his long life he enjoyed the absolute trust of his superiors and the respect and affection of those privileged to live with him. He never became a superior in the Irish Province, not that he lacked the qualities necessary for government, but simply because he felt that in the position assigned him from the beginning he could labour most for the glory of God. It was an open secret some decades before his death that he had been appointed rector of one of the Society's houses in Ireland, but the letters patent of the General from Rome were never promulgated.

For generations of Limerick people, he was the model priest: serene of temperament, a patient listener, with admirable judgment, ever ready to help others, the trusted director of souls.

Mead, Thomas, 1785-1848, Jesuit brother

  • IE IJA J/1736
  • Person
  • 24 May 1785-10 June 1848

Born: 24 May 1785, Ireland
Entered: 17 March 1817, Richmond, Virginia, USA - Marylandiae Mission (MAR)
Final vows: 15 August 1929
Died: 10 June 1848, Georgetown, U.S.A. - Marylandiae Province (MAR)

Meade, Matthew, 1912-1992, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/529
  • Person
  • 19 February 1912-26 August 1992

Born: 19 February 1912, Ballymaclode Castle, County Waterford
Entered: 29 September 1930, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1944, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1947, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway
Died: 26 August 1992, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin

Part of the Manresa, Dollymount, Dublin community at the time of death

Early Education at Waterpark College, Waterford

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 82 : September 1995
Obituary
Fr Matthew (Mattie) Meade (1912-1992)

19th Feb. 1912: Born, Ballymaclode Castle, Co. Waterford
Educated: Waterpark College, Waterford
29th Sept.1930; Entered the Society at Emo Park
1932 - 1935: Arts at UCD. Lived at Rathfarnham
1935 - 1938: Philosophy at Tullabeg
1938 - 1941: Teaching (H.Dip.in 1940) in Galway
1941 - 1945: Theology at Milltown
31st July 1944: Ordained
1945 - 1946: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1946 - 1948: Teaching in Galway
1948 - 1951: Assistant Director Sod. B.V.M.; Director of Missions and Retreats: Emo
1951 - 1953: Assistant Director Sod. B.V.M.: Director of Missions and Retreats: Rathfarnham
1953 - 1957: Church work at Gardiner Street
1957 - 1963: Superior at Gardiner Street
1963 - 1968: Director of Missions and Retreats, Oecon. Irish Messenger at 35 Lower Leeson Street
1968 - 1974: Director of Retreat House/ Director of Missions and Retreats at Rathfarnham
1974 - 1982: Superior of Rathfarnham
1982 - 1992: Manresa, Oeconimus
26th Aug. 1992: Died at Beaumont Hospital

His birth place, Waterford City, had a strong Jesuit history and tradition as the members of the Irish Province discovered when we travelled for the celebrations on June 16th 1991 connected with St. Patrick's Church still in use as the out church in the Cathedral Parish, It was in St. Patrick's that the Irish Jesuits worked from 1691 practically to the suppression of the Society, many of them of outstanding ability and revered and respected by the priests of the Diocese. Mattie was very proud of their unique influence and tradition. Louis McRedmond's history of Irish Jesuits makes fascinating reading for all Waterford men with names and details so vivid and accurate.

Mattie's early years in the Society were the routine ones at that period, starting with Emo in September 1930 at the age of eighteen, followed by Arts at UCD, Tullabeg, two years experience in teaching at Galway, and then theology at Milltown Park, Ordained on 31st July, 1944, he was then a young man with a lovely balanced sense of humour, a most popular community man. This gift he kept thankfully through his life and already one could detect the signs of a true seanchaí, one who had a shrewd mind with plenty of common sense.

His first apostolic work was two years back teaching in Galway which he loved and often spoke warmly of the community and especially Fr. Bart Coughlan's quaint words of wisdom. Then suddenly he found himself as Director of Missions and Retreats for twenty years, living in Emo, Leeson Street and Rathfarnham Castle. This was a job that suited him admirably as he was naturally methodical, placid and gradually developed a great relationship with the secular clergy.

The next ten years stationed in Gardiner Street, six as Superior, were to his liking: he showed fine qualities, offering sound advice, using his wrist when necessary and not afraid to deal strongly with serious problems, though not a man to seek confrontation. It was the time when the Provincial and his curia still lived at St. Francis Xavier's.

The years at Rathfarnham Castle 1968-82, eight as Superior, he remarked were the fourteen happiest years in the Society. This in a way was strange as the “young men” had vanished and Rathfarnham Castle seemed to outsiders at least a rather lonely house. He developed and guided the promoters attached to the Retreat House Association who did trojan apostolic work with an appreciative backing from Mattie. They were men whom he admired, respected and with whom he built up a magnificent bond. I remember his Golden Jubilee celebrations when he invited the priests of the parish, the De La Salle Brothers, the Loreto Abbey Sisters and others. But his chief guests at that dinner were Pat Boland, his maintenance man, who, with his wife, occupied the place of honour. Very typical of Mattie. It was a gesture that one would not forget too easily.

The last ten years of his life were spent at Manresa Retreat House where he filled with a delicate touch the job of Oeconimus. It was a pleasant task for him because by nature he was tidy, entered items every day, and was always up to date in his books. He grew in wisdom and grace at this stage and the Community could sit back and listen with a chuckle to his own, less than pious verses about the “Nun of Loftus Hall”, “The Thimbleful of Vinum in a Cup”, and many other gems reminding us of days long past. They were recited from memory without the slightest change of even a comma. When a certain new man joined the Community he was ruefully heard to remark that he now enjoyed precious little air space! Then for the last two years the health became a problem. He suffered patiently but luckily he had some good periods. His last week at Beaumont Hospital was blessed for him as he really liked all the men in his ward. He was happy and thoroughly enjoyed every day of that week. He could ask for no more. He had good company and a good audience. Then he suffered a stroke and lasted two days, dying quietly and without fuss

Some people go through life in the Society and sometimes Jesuits tend to forget them and may not even mention them that often. But Mattie was not easy to forget because he was a rare and loveable character, but above all because he was the ideal Community man who did so much for the Irish Province. Fr. Paddy Greene paid a nice tribute to him in Irish at his Requiem Mass in St. Francis Xavier's - a fitting farewell .

Kieran Hanley

Meade, Robert, 1633-1704, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1737
  • Person
  • 29 September 1633-29 May 1704

Born: 29 September 1633, Kinsale, County Cork
Entered: 24 December 1654, Nancy, France - Campaniae Province (CAMP)
Ordained: 1664, Pont-à-Mousson, France
Final Vows: 15 August 1681
Died: 29 May 1704, St Anthony’s College, Lisbon, Portugal - Campaniae Province (CAMP)

1656-1658 At Pont-à-Mousson studying Logic and Physics
1658-1659 At Verdun teaching Grammar - capable of teaching and doing missionary work and many other things in due time
1659-1661 At Charleville teaching Grammar
1661-1664 At Pont-à-Mousson studying Theology and Prefect of Physicists in Boarding School and Rhetoricians
1664-1665 Went to FLA-BELG
Taught 3 years in CAMP. On Irish Mission 33 years (4 months in prison). Driven into exile to Lisbon

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1671 On the Irish Mission for may years; Imprisoned for eight months and deported; Zealous Preacher; Died of old age (Franco’s “Synopsis”)
1691 Preaching in Cork and Kinsale
1694 On Parochial duty in Cork, in great poverty
1714 In reporting his death, his Superior calls him “impiger concionator” (Foley’s Collectanea)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Educated by the Jesuits at Tournai before Ent 24 December 1654 CAMP
1656-1658 After First Vows at Nancy he studied Philosophy at Pont-à-Mousson
1658-1661 He was then sent for Regency at Verdun and Charleville
1661-1665 He was sent to Pont-à-Mousson for Theology and he was Ordained there 1664, and then did a further year of Theology at Douai.
1665-1666 In the Summer of 1665 the General wanted him to go to the ANG Tertianship at Ghent, in order to improve his proficiency in English, and therefore be more available for the Irish Mission. There was no space at Ghent, so he made his tertianship at Lierre instead.
1666-1669 He was sent as Operarius at Cambrai
1669 Sent to Ireland and Cork where he worked for the next 30 years. His command of Irish was put to good use there, and he was an able Preacher and undaunted by the poverty and hardship of his mission. In the mass arrests and enforced exile of the regular clergy of 1697/98 he was captured, imprisoned for eight months and then put on board ship bound for Portugal. He found temporary refuge at Irish College Lisbon, but on the General's orders he was received at the College of Évora. As there was nobody there to speak with him in Irish or French, he was allowed to settle at the College of St Anthony in Lisbon, a city which then had a sizeable population of Irish refugees. He died there 29 May 1704.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
MEAD, ROBERT. The first time that I meet with him is in the Lent of 1671, when he gave Evening Instructions twice each week at Cork, and twice also at Kinsale. In a letter dated Waterford, the 25th of November, 1694, he is described as well acquainted with the Irish language, living in a very desolate part of the country, and in great poverty; but zealous and fruitfully engaged in the work of the Ministry. He died abroad, an exile for the Faith, and in advanced years, as I find by a letter written in 1714, and he is said to have been “impiger concionator”.

Meagh, John, 1600-1639, Jesuit priest and Martyr

  • IE IJA J/1738
  • Person
  • 1600-31 May 1639

Born: 1600, County Cork
Entered: 25 October 1626, Naples, Italy - Neapolitanae Province (NAP)
Ordained: - pre Entry
Died: 31 May 1639, Kuttenburg (Kutná Hora), Czech Republic - Austriacae Province (ASR) - described as "Martyr"

Studied Rhetoric and Philosophy
“Gio Meagh of the city of Cork in Ireland. 27 years of age more or less, entered Soc on 25/10/1626” (written by himself, Naples Novice Book)
1628 In NAP
1632 Sent to Bohemia
1639 Martyr RIP 31/05/1639 at Kuttenburg BOH. So it is stated in Annals of Kuttemburg for year 1639. According to corrections made with pencil, hardly had he pronounced the salutary names of Jesus and Mary. He was destined for Ireland. A man of very great zeal and some with pious curiosity took notice of him while celebrating the sacred mysteries, and because they had observed his devotion they assisted attentively at his Mass. With externs his conversation was of God and he spoke with such unction and if permissible they would enjoy his conversation a whole day without weariness. He was much grieved when required to speak of common subjects. Known for his integrity of life and spirit of prayer.
Studied 1st year Theology at Rome and 2nd at Naples. 1632 went to Germany and Bohemia
“Shot 30/05/1639”

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Son of William Meagh or Mede, a celebrated citizen of Cork, who died in exile 1614.
Sent as a Missioner to Bohemia, he was shot out of hatred of religion by Swedish soldiers near Kuttenburg and was on his way to Ireland. (cf Tanner’s “Martyrs” and Drew’s “Fasti SJ”)
Imprisoned in Naples on a false accusation; Of great zeal and piety; A good Scholar, and knew Virgil and Imitation by heart;
He had knowledge of his Martyrdom twelve years previously

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Ordained before Entry without having done the usual studies in Theology
1628-1629 After First Vows he was sent to study Rhetoric in the Novitiate
1629 He was then sent for Theology successively to Naples, Roman College and Vienna. His transfer to Vienna was affected in order to enable him to make temporal provision for his niece, who was a member of a Religious Order which had been dissolved by Papal authority. She was shortly married, but it turned out her husband had severe mental health problems. So, he was able to get his nice taken under the wing of the Queen Of Hungary. Meanwhile his nieces’ husband starting issuing defamatory statements about Meagh, but his integrity was upheld. At this time he had also inherited a sizeable sum, and he got permission from the General to sign over most of it to his brother, but also he was planning to allot part of this inheritance to found an Irish Jesuit House in Austria.
1634 While in Vienna he was allowed by the General to serve as a Military Chaplain in the Imperial Army until he could go to Ireland. When he was asked to go his Colonel refused to part with him, and over the next four years he was stationed mostly at Prague but he saw service also in Pomerania and Saxony. By 1638 he was stationed at Guttenburg and eventually given permission to go to Ireland. But as he set out he was killed by Calvinists 31 May 1639
The cause of his beatification with that of the martyrs of Bohemia is before the Holy See

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father John Meagh 1598-1639
In the neighbourhood of Guttenburg, near Prague, Fr John Meagh died a martyr at the hands of some Swedish soldiers, out of hatred for the faith.

While in the service of the Duke of Ossuna, Viceroy of the King of Spain John Meagh had been converted from a worldly life through reading the life of St Dympna. During his preparations to enter religious life, he was wrongly accused and cast into prison. Observing therein a statue of St Ignatius, he recalled how that Saint had also been wrongfully imprisoned. He invoked him and soon after was set free. His devotion led him to visit Rome during the Jubilee, and there he met with an accident, seriously injuring his leg. The Jesuit Fathers kindly received him into their house, and recalling that St Ignatius had also been injured in the leg, he came to the conclusion that he was called to the Society. He applied and was admitted at Naples in 1625.

After his ordination he was sent to Bohemia. He was on the point of returning to the Irish Mission, when the Swedes, in the course of the Thirty Years War, invaded Bohemia. The Fathers thought it wise to remove to the College at Guttenburg, and it was on the road thither that Fr Meagh fell into the hands of the heretical Swedes and was killed by a bullet in the chest.

This happened on the 31st of May 1639, when he was 41 years old, having been born in Cork in 1598.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
MEAGH, JOHN, made his Noviceship at Naples. As a preparation for the Irish Mission, he was ordered to cultivate the vineyard in Bohemia. There he was massacred “odio Rcligionis” by some Swedish soldiers, on the 31st of May, 1639, aet. 41. See the life of this Irish Father in Tanner, also his notice in F. John Drews Fasti, S. J.*

  • This posthumous work was printed in 1723, at Brunsberg, and contains 516 pages.

Meagher, Daniel Louis, 1911-1980, Jesuit priest and missioner

  • IE IJA J/245
  • Person
  • 18 August 1911-14 April 1980

Born: 18 August 1911, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 14 September 1931, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1944, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1968, Sacred Heart, Monze, Zambia
Died: 14 April 1980, Mater Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya - Zambia Province (ZAM)

Part of the Chivuna, Monze, Zambia community at the time of death.

Older brother of Paddy Meagher - RIP 2005
Cousin of John P Leonard - RIP 2006

Mission Superior Lusaka Superior of the Poloniae Minoris Jesuit Mission to Lusaka Mission : (POL Mi) 11 August 1955
Superior of the Irish Jesuit Mission to Chikuni Mission: 01 January 1957

Transcribed HIB to ZAM : 03 December 1969

by 1951 at Chikuni, Chisekesi, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) working - third wave of Zambian Missioners
Mission Superior Lusaka (POL Mi) 11 August 1955
Mission Superior Chikuni (HIB) 01 January 1957

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
‘Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them’ (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night). These words in some way could be applied to Fr Louis (nobody called him 'Daniel'). In human qualities Fr Louis was very ordinary. He saw himself as a great 'chancer' (his own word), meaning that he was willing to try his hand at anything, though not highly gifted for anything in particular. In fact, he found the studies in the Society extremely difficult but he realized that they were a preparation for the works of the Society like preaching and retreat giving. His tremendous determination and great sense of mission carried him through these difficulties so that at the end of his training he was better equipped to carry on apostolic works than many others more talented than he was. He had ‘greatness thrust upon him’ as he was appointed superior of the Irish Jesuits in Zambia a few years after arriving there.

He had come to Zambia in 1950, one of the original nine Irish Jesuits appointed to come to Chikuni Mission. The appointment came as a shock to Louis but he faced up to the situation as he had faced up to all the difficulties in his life. He was also appointed Vicar General of the Monze diocese where he was so highly appreciated by all.

After school at St Finians and Belvedere, he entered the Society at Emo in 1931. For regency he taught at Clongowes Wood College and then proceeded to Milltown Park where he was ordained in 1944. Afterwards he went to the Crescent, Limerick, to teach there until he came to Zambia in 1950.

In the early 60s, he began to suffer from rheumatoid arthritis which crippled him increasingly until his death. It was in this that Louis ‘achieved greatness’ in the way he bore his illness for nearly 20 years. He could laugh and talk as if he had not a care in the world. He was an 'Easter person' who by word and deed reflected the good news of the victory of the Cross and of the joyfulness of the Resurrection. It is possible to resign oneself to suffering but it is a very different thing to bring sunshine into the lives of others at the same time. This calls for great faith, hope and charity. Louis retained a warm and appreciative interest in everyone to such a degree that all considered themselves to hold a special place in his heart.
He had a happy interest in the life of the secondary school at Chivuna and helped the community there through his visiting, his counselling, his concern for each one's welfare, for their academic achievements as well as their prowess in sports.

Finally when arthritis made him almost unable to walk, he made the journey to Nairobi in Kenya to see if anything could be done for his feet. While there in hospital, he was anxious to get back to Chivuna for the opening of the school term. However, cardio-respiratory failure was the final cause of his death there at the age of 68.
His remains were flown to Zambia and he was buried at Chikuni on 14 April 1980. The most noticeable thing about Louis' funeral was the manner in which the ordinary Tonga people seemed very clearly to take over the burying of their priest. It would have been unthinkable to bury Louis elsewhere, he who had lived and worked among them for 30 years

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 55th Year No 3 1980
Obituary
Fr D Louis Meagher (1911-1931-1980)
(The following piece, by Fr Socius, Zambia, is copied from the VPZ Newsletter:)
Normally I would ask someone else to write an obituary. But in this case I wish to do it myself; partly, I suppose, because my friendship with him goes as far back as 1948, when I was a schoolboy at the Crescent in Limerick.
Fr Louis died in the Mater hospital, Nairobi, on 14 April, 1980, having said Mass on the same day. Cardio-respiratory failure was the final cause of his death at the age of sixty-eight.
Requiem Mass was celebrated for the repose of his soul in the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Holy Family, Nairobi, with a cardinal and about 50 priests concelebrating. His remains were flown home to Zambia, and he was buried at Chikuni on 19 April. Though both Bishop Corboy and Bishop Munhandu conducted the funeral services, with nearly 50 fellow-priests concelebrating, I would say that the most noticeable fact of Louis’s funeral was the manner in which the ordinary Tonga people seemed very clearly to take over the burying of their own priest. It would have been unthinkable to bury Fr Louis elsewhere.
Ordained in 1944, Fr Louis taught for a while in the Crescent College and then came to Zambia in 1950, working principally in the Chikuni area till he was appointed Superior of the Jesuits of the Chikuni Mission in 1955. In the early 1960s he began to suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, which crippled him increasingly till his death. His work as Vicar-General of the Monze diocese was highly appreciated by all. In recent years, as chaplain to St. Joseph's secondary school, Chivuna, Louis was the friend and inspiration to all.
At a special requiem Mass at St Ignatius, Lusaka, I was asked to preach the homily, in which I tried to highlight three outstanding characteristics of Louis - in an attempt to learn the meaning of his life. I would like to repeat these briefly:
His undiminished interest in other people: You would excuse interest diminishing through age or sickness; but in him there was none of these. Louis retained a warm and appreciated interest in everyone, to such a degree that they all considered themselves to hold a special place in his heart. And of course this deep interest enabled Louis to converse with absolutely anyone - on any subject under the sun.
His humility and freedom from conceit: In human qualities Fr Louis was very ordinary. He saw himself as a great “chancer” (his own word), meaning that he was willing to try his hand at anything, though not highly gifted for anything in particular. He would never have considered himself outstanding - a gifted preacher, an intellectual, a specialist, a famous Jesuit (!) or a holy priest. In God’s own wisdom it was the way he bore his illness for nearly 20 years that made Louis extraordinary. To listen to him talk and laugh you could easily imagine he hadn't a worry in the world, though he was largely crippled with rheumatoid arthritis. Such inspiring acceptance indicated a very deep spirituality.
“Let there be sunshine in my world together with you” are the words of a popular song today. And they apply very much to Fr Louis. It is possible for people who suffer seriously over a long period of time to find solace in the mystery of the Cross; but often such people communicate a faith which stays at the Cross. Louis however was definitely an “Easter person”, who by both word and deed reflected the good news of the victory of the Cross and the joyfulness of the Resurrection. It is possible to resign oneself to suffering, but very difficult to bring sunshine also into the world of others; this calls for great faith, hope and charity.
I think it was Louis’s remarkable ability to proclaim charismatically “Praise the Lord” with his crippled body that was his outstanding gift to us all.
In his obituary notice on Louis Meagher, Fr Tom O'Brien has rightly emphasised Louis' courage and cheerfulness in his sickness and often painful suffering during the last twenty years of his life. I would like to add that this courage and determination was something which was built into Louis's character during his years of formation and his early work in the Society before bad health came upon him.
Louis found extremely difficult not only the studies in the Society but also the preparation for many of the works such as preaching and the giving of retreats. Study for him was always a real grind, but he had tremendous determination and a great sense of mission and this carried him through, so that at the end of his training he was better equipped to carry on the apostolic works of the Society than many others who were endowed with greater intelligence and other natural gifts.
There was however one gift with which Louis was endowed to an extraordinary degree, and that was a very attractive and cheerful personality. This natural charm enabled him to make friends with people of every, age and sex. It was quite an experience to see Louis meeting strangers (sometimes unfriendly strangers) and in no time
they were at ease and enjoying his company.
When Louis came to Zambia he needed all his courage and determination. A few years after his arrival he found himself saddled with the job of religious superior of the Irish Jesuits here and that of vicar-general of their section of the archdiocese of Lusaka. These were difficult times for Louis due to lack of finance and other circumstances beyond his control. The appointment came as a great shock to Louis. I can well remember that for once he looked really down in the mouth. However he faced up to the situation as he had faced up to all the difficulties in his years as a scholastic. To a large extent he concealed all his worries and anxieties and he surprised us all by his ability to lead and to govern during those difficult years.
I would like to single out one special virtue which was very evident to me in his administration of the Mission. I was closely associated with him as a consultor for most of those years, and I can honestly say that I don't think that he was ever influenced by self-interest in any of the decisions he made. His likes and dislikes of other people (and like any normal person he had his likes and dislikes) never influenced his decisions. When he made mistakes they could never be attributed to selfish motives.
When sickness and pain came upon Louis it was no surprise to me that he bore it with courage and unselfish cheerfulness to the end. Louis was only continuing to live his life as he had always lived it.

With Louis Meagher’s death, the communities at Civuna have lost a great friend and a loyal support. The mission at large will miss him for his great enthusiasm and inspiration; but as Christ said to the Apostles, one feels that it is better that he should go to his Father because now he will help us all the more and his spirit will continue to inspire us.
“I only want to complete the work the Lord Jesus gave me to do, which is to declare the good news about the grace of God”. In Louis’ last days in a Nairobi hospital he still had one great wish, namely to return to Civuna and continue his apostolate. That was not to be; but the tributes at his burial at Chikuni were a sign that not only at Civuna but in the diocese as a whole, his life and work made a lasting impact on the people. About 50 priests concelebrated Mass with our bishop, James Corboy, and the bishop of the neighbouring diocese of Livingstone, brothers, sisters and the ordinary people in great numbers.
Louis could have called a halt twenty years ago when he first developed arthritis and the doctors declared that he had only a few months to live. But that wasn’t Louis Meagher. He fought against his illness every day since then, never giving in and never complaining, but took all the medical attention he could get, including the hip operation. Finally, when the arthritis made him almost unable to walk, he made his journey to Nairobi to see if anything could be done for his feet.
As a community man he was always cheerful and available. He was interested in everything that was going on in the parish; the numbers at Mass in each centre, the leaders, the catechists, development work and the youth. He had a deep impact on the life of the Secondary school and helped to form both staff and pupils into a happy community through his visiting, his counselling, his interest in each one's welfare, the academic achievements of the girls and in sport. Probably one of the best tributes to his time in Civuna is the formation of the new diocesan congregation of sisters, the Sisters of the Holy Spirit, who celebrated their 10th anniversary on Pentecost weekend (24th-25th May). They now have 12 sisters, all past pupils of the school; four are teaching here and others are still in training for their future ministries. They always came to him for advice and help, and the encouragement they received is evident in the very pleasant family spirit which they have developed: each one's personality and talents are able to be brought together for the good of all.
I think if there is one single lesson that Louis's life teaches it is this, . to use whatever talents the Lord has given us, perfect them through developing them for the sake of others, until we all attain maturity, contributing to the completed growth of Christ. It is no coincidence that Louis took to the Charismatic Renewal in the Church as a fish takes to water, and in spite of his ill-health, attended the local and national conferences and inspired many people by his presence. The Spirit of the risen Lord was certainly evident in him, but it was a light shining from the daily cross of physical suffering. May he enjoy a rich reward for his life of faith and service to others and may he always inspire us to go and do the same.

Meagher, John, 1895-1972, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1739
  • Person
  • 05 May 1895-29 November 1972

Born: 05 May 1895, Temora, NSW, Australia
Entered: 21 May 1915, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 31 July 1927, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 15 August 1932
Died: 29 November 1972, St John of God, Richmond - Australiae Province (ASL)

Part of the St Ignatius, Melbourne, Australia community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Vice-Provincial Australian Vice Province 25 August 1939 to 16 December 1947

by 1919 in Australia - Regency
by 1924 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1930 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
John Meagher, always known as Johnny, was educated at St Stanislaus College Bathurst NSW, and then at Xavier College Melbourne. he went on a world trip to consider his vocation before entering the Society at Loyola, Greenwich, 21 May 1915. After Noviciate and Juniorate, also at Loyola, He taught at St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, 1918-1922.
After further ecclesiastical studies in Ireland, Jersey and Belgium (Louvain), he returned to Australia in 1931, and was appointed to the diocesan seminary at Werribee to teach Theology./ During 1932-1924, he taught the Novices and Juniors before they moved to Melbourne.
In 1935 he became Rector of Riverview. here he showed his gifts of leadership. The school at that time was suffering from the effects of the Depression. Numbers had dropped, and with numbers, standards and morale. In a couple of years he transformed it. Enrolments rose dramatically. More important was the effect on the community and staff, the boys and Old Boys, of his dynamism and devotion to the school. He was an excellent teacher of Latin and Greek, clear methodical and extremely vigorous - his voice raised in emphatic explanation or in half-serious abuse of a class or a boy, could be heard on the third division Oval.
His friendly relationship with the boys and parents was legendary. He showed interest in them all and knew them well enough to engage in the sort of leg-pulling they understood and enjoyed. He attended games, debates and Old Boys functions, and those who knew him during these years remarked on the directness and sincerity of his attitude towards them.
His success as Rector led to his being appointed Vice-Provincial, 25 August 1939 to 16 December 1947 - an office far less congenial to him, taking him away from the classroom and Riverview. He was Provincial all through the war, a time when it was impossible to do more than keep things going under increasing difficulty. He was not as methodical in administration as he was in teaching, and this sometimes caused him difficulties as Rector and provincial. But his “decency” and honesty made him a very easy Superior to deal with.
He was a compulsive worker. Reading made no appeal to him, and while he was very interested in games and enjoyed listening to a broadcast of a Test Match, he was unwilling to spend much time at this sort of recreation. As he grew older, his poor health - a spinal weakness troubled him all is adult life - made it more difficult for him to play any game. He was happy if he could teach nearly every class period, deal with administration outside class and talk with boys around the school, and then do some coaching of individual boys during their study time. The holidays he liked to spend giving retreats - to priests, brothers, nuns and young people.
He returned as Rector of Riverview before his appointment in 1949 as Instructor of tertians. His final position of authority was as Rector of the Diocesan Minor Seminary in Christchurch New Zealand. he later taught Theology at Glen Waverley, Pymble and Christchurch, before a final stay at Riverview before he died.
He was considered a model Jesuit for many Australian scholastics because of his reputed holiness and zeal as a worker. He had tireless energy, and often failed to realise that others could not imitate his workload. He was a very good teacher, but he had a rather pragmatic attitude towards learning, looking on it as a means of getting on in life rather than something to be pursued for its own sake.
On the lighter side, he was a non-smoker, but carried a packet of cigarettes for his friends. When in Melbourne, he enjoyed attending the annual Public Schools athletic sports, and following the fortunes of Xavier College. However, he claimed cricket as his main interest, and he was a slow googly bowler of varied length in his day. He would travel by bicycle great distances such as to Watsonia or Werribee, and was a devotee of Ellery Queen to cure insomnia.
He was an enigma. He could understand others in a rough manner, but without empathy. He was very hard on himself, expressing the spirituality of Fr Ginhac, who was very keen on personal penances. His constant movement reflected an inability to face himself or others in depth, probably indicating an unhappy man, uncomfortable with himself. he was blunt, sometimes giving the appearance of rudeness, which was a cover for shyness. There were not many nuances in his life - everything was black and white. He was not known outside the Society except by the Melbourne diocesan clergy, who were amazed at his sense of poverty, shown in his riding a bike as his main means of transport. he loved St Ignatius College Riverview, sometimes facetiously names “Meagher’s Grammar School” by some.
As Vice-Provincial he clashed with the Rector of Riverview, Noel Hehir, over his expulsion of members of the Meagher clan. Meagher overruled Hehir, an action Hehir never forgot. When the latter was dying he did not want to see Meagher. As tertian Instructor, he indicated that he was afraid of the job, believing himself incapable of performing well in that office. Overall he was a very private man, a company man.
As his physical strength began to decline, he could not keep pace with life. His memory became erratic. He was out of sympathy with modern movements in the Church and the Society, and could not appreciate the change he found in the school he had always loved. It was sad to meet him in those last years at Riverview and to not his bewilderment at not being given work that he wanted to do and believed he could do. Mercifully his mental deterioration was rapid and he ceased to worry, except occasionally. The Brothers of St John of God cared for him during the last two years of his life. For all he did in his life as a Jesuit, he was gratefully admired as one of the most generous men that the Province has ever been given.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 17th Year No 3 1942
Australia :

Writing on 21st February last, Rev. Fr. Meagher Provincial, reports Fr. Basil Loughnan has gone off to be a Chaplain. We have three men Chaplains now. Fr. Turner was in Rabaul when we last heard of him and it would seem we shall not hear from him again for some time to come. Fr. F. Burke was in Greece and I don’t quite know where at the moment. Fr. H. Johnson is doing moral in place of Fr. Ken McKillop, and Fr. Mayne will do philosophy which Fr. Johnston used do. Fr Ken is much the same, at present he is at Riverview where he teaches Religious knowledge and is Spiritual Father to the boys. He looks well but is unable for any serious work. We have hopes he will recover sufficiently to do light work.

Meagher, Patrick, 1797-1829, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/244
  • Person
  • 17 March 1797-10 July 1829

Born: 17 March 1797, Ballybeg, Toomevara, County Tipperary
Entered: 02 December 1817, Hodder, Stonyhurst, England (ANG) / St Stainlaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 1819, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 10 July 1829, Toomevara, County Tipperary

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was the thirteenth child of his parents, and, according to a custom in those parts for a thirteenth child, was known as “the piper”.
His brother John was PP of the local Parish for 44 years, and they are buried side by side in the Toomevara Church (St Joseph's), on the Epistle side of the altar.
He studied at Maynooth and was ordained Deacon there. At the same time his father died, and he felt called to the Society. He left home with that in mind, but without telling anyone. He subsequently sent his mother a book on the life of Francis Xavier, and suggested she read it and then understand what he was seeking. It is believed that this letter may have come from Tullabeg, though some say Hodder, where he made his first year of noviceship - he subsequently came to Tullabeg for second year Fr St Leger records his having taken Vows in Tullabeg on 03 December 1819. He was of very good abilities and very holy. His Ordination took place at Tullabeg after First Vows.
There was no public Church in Tullabeg at that time, but he was allowed by the local PP to say Mass and hear Confessions there. He developed a good reputation as a Confessor.
He eventually became ill, and though he recovered for a while, suffered a severe relapse, which the doctors were unable to treat. He never once complained.
He was sent to his brother’s house in Toomevara for a change of air, hoping he might recover, but he died six months or so later. His last instructions were that “no woman be allowed into the room where his remains were laid out until such time as they were in a coffin”.
He was buried with his brother, and a monument records “Hoc Monumentus fieri fecit, Reverendus Johannes Meagher PP, in Memoriam fratris ejus, Reverendi Patritii Meagher de Societate Jesu Presbyteri, qui obit anno MDCCCXXIX, Mense Julii, Aetatis Suae XXII. RIP

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Patrick Meagher 1797-1829
Fr Patrick Meagher belonged to one of the oldest families of the townland of Ballybeg, near Toomevara County Tipperary. He was born on St Patrick’s Day 1797, the thirteenth child of the family, and for that reason always known as “The Piper”, a name, according to local custom, always bestowed on the thirteenth child.

He studied Theology in Maynooth and was ordained deacon. He made up his mind to become a Jesuit and left home with that intention, without letting his mother know. From the noviceship he sent her a life of St Francis Xavier, and he told her to read it and she would know what kind of life he was aiming at.

There was no public Church at Tullabeg, so after his ordination with the permission of the Parish Priest, he used to hear confession and preach in the parish Church.

He fell ill with an incurable disease, and he was sent in 1828 to his brother’s house in Toomevara, where his brother was Parish Priest for 44 years. He only lived six or seven months. When hew saw the end was near he sent a message by hand to one of the Fathers at Tullabeg, asking him to come to him, that he “might not die except in the arms of one of the Society”. He died peacefully the next day, June 10th 1829, at the early age of 32. His last instructions regarding himself were “that no woman was to be allowed into the room where his remains were laid out, until they were enclosed in a coffin”.

He was buried in the Parish Church of Toomevara, side by side with his brother, who erected a monument over him, which can be seen to this day on the Epistle side of the altar.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
MEAGHER, PATRICK. This Reverend Father died in Tipperary, June 1829.

Meagher, Patrick, 1799-1855, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/575
  • Person
  • 21 July 1799-17 April 1855

Born: 21 July 1799, Newfoundland, Canada (Co Waterford)
Entered: 24 February 1828, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 29 September 1834, Marlborough Street, Dublin
Professed: 02 February 1846
Died: 17 April 1855, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin

Uncle of Thomas Francis Meagher.

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Came to Stonyhurst for early education and studied Humanities. He was keen to be a barrister, and studied law for some years afterwards before Entry.

He joined HIB Vice-Province 24 February 1828
After First Vows he was sent as Prefect either to Clongowes or Tullabeg
He was ordained by Dr Murray, Archbishop of Dublin - who had also ordained him Deacon - in Marlborough St 29 September 1834.
1847 he had been nine years Minister in Belvedere, and 14 March 1847 he was appointed Rector. He died in office 1855. As well as his work in Belvedere, he was also a Spiritual Director to a community of Carmelite Nuns. At one stage he was ill for a while, and the esteem in which he was held is witnessed by the number of visitors that called daily to enquire after him. He was remarkable for his union with God and great prudence in business. He was a truly spiritual man, and he viewed everything with the eyes of faith. he was perfectly straightforward and a model of charity towards others. He was a model religious, and never did his virtues appear to better advantage than during the last months of his life: as he lay dying, suffering most intensely, he was most patient and never murmured. Father Frank Murphy assisted him in his last moments, and he died on 17 April 1855.

Meagher, Patrick, 1917-2005, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/636
  • Person
  • 11 April 1917-07 February 2005

Born: 11 April 1917, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1935, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 28 July 1948, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1981, Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin
Died: 07 February 2005, Cherryfield Lodge Dublin

Part of the Manresa House, Dublin community at the time of death.

Younger brother of D Louis Meagher - RIP 1980
Cousin of John P Leonard - RIP 2006

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ : Admissions 1859-1948 - Born Ratoath, County Meath; St Finian’s Mullingar student

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 128 : Special Issue June 2006

Obituary

Patrick (Paddy) Meagher (1917-2005)

11th April 1917: Born in Dublin
Early education at the National School in Ratoath, Co. Meath and St. Finian's, Mullingar
7th September 1935: Entered the Society at Emo
8th September 1937: First Vows at Emo
1937 - 1940: Rathfarnham - Studied Classics at UCD
1940 - 1943: Tullabeg -Studied Philosophy
1943 - 1945: Mungret College, Limerick - Teacher (Regency)
1945 - 1949: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
28th July 1948: Ordained at Milltown Park
1949 - 1950: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1950 - 1953: Clongowes - Teacher
1953 - 1956: Mungret College - Teacher
1956 - 1960: Gonzaga College - Teacher; Minister, Assistant Prefect of Studies
1960 - 1968: Mungret College - Teacher, Sub-Minister
1968 - 1972: Loyola - Socius to Provincial
1972 - 1973: Rathfarnham -Studied catechetics at Mt. Oliver, Dundalk
1973 - 1974: Manresa House -Assistant Director; Directed Spiritual Exercises
1974 - 1975: Belvedere College - Teacher
1975 - 2005: Manresa House -
1975 - 1985: Assistant Director, Directed Spiritual Exercises
2nd February 1981: Final Vows at Manresa
1985 - 1992: Socius to Director of Novices
1992 - 1996: Directed Spiritual Exercises
1996 - 2001: Rector's Admonitor, Spiritual Director
2001 - 2004: Spiritual Director (SJ)
2004 - 2005: Assisted in the community
7th February 2005 Died at Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Fr Meagher visited Cherryfield Lodge many times over the years for respite care. He was admitted in May 2004. He had become weak with chronic chest and circulatory problems. He was treated with antibiotic therapy and pain relief. In the last two weeks his condition weakened further and he died peacefully but unexpectedly in Cherryfield Lodge.

Paul Andrews writes:
Paddy was born in Ratoath, Co. Meath, the fourth child and second boy in a family of six. Three of the four boys became priests, and one of the girls a nun. They were blow-ins, not native to Meath. Paddy's father was from Templemore, his mother the child of a Co. Offaly farmer who had given up farming and moved to near Mulhuddert when the absentee landlord put up the rent. So strong was the anti-landlord feeling that when the family moved away from Offaly, the neighbours came in and knocked down all the buildings, Perhaps it was from this maternal grandfather that Paddy inherited the core of steel that could surprise strangers to this mild little man.

He was closer to his father, admired by neighbours and family as a gentleman of gentlemen, of small stature (all the children inherited this) and incapable of saying a rough word. Mother had the better business head, and thought her husband unsuited to the job of a Ratoath merchant, running a general store and pub. Too little interest in money, she said. He'd have been better in the bank.

Paddy was delicate as a young boy. After National School he went as a boarder to St Finian's in Mullingar. He was small like his father, and never shone at games, though he played Gaelic and carried the mark of a stray hurley in a scar under his eye. He was a bright student, and St Finian's gave him a good foundation in Greek and Latin.

His brother Louis had gone to Belvedere while lodging in Huntstown with his grandmother. There he had come under the influence of Fr Ernest Mackey, the assertive promoter of vocations (perhaps one reason why older Irish Jesuits shudder when Fr General urges us to be aggressive in our search for vocations). Ernest would dine with the Meaghers every Christmas, and exerted such an influence, first on Louis, then on Paddy, that when Tom, two years younger and less academic than Paddy, went to the Holy Ghosts, the local lads used ask him, Would the Js not take you?

Paddy followed Louis's footsteps to Emo. The parents were supportive of their multiple vocations (Maureen had become a Loreto sister). They visited Emo, and when Paddy walked tlırough the parlour door in his Jesuit gown, his mother cried, Oh, a saint! as she rushed to embrace him. That would not have been Paddy's style. He was uneasy with sensible devotion, cool-headed yet with a personal warmth that drew people to him; but the opposite of charismatic.

He eschewed scenes of high emotion. In the tempestuous seventies, the Grubb Institute led a group session for several days in Tullabeg, and explored the emotional sensitivities of the sometimes unwilling participants. Towards the end Paddy exploded: For the first time in 25 years you have made me lose my temper. No, said the Australian leader, For the first time in 25 years we have given you permission to lose your temper. Paddy did not like it.

When we were looking for a photo of Paddy for his memorial card, we wondered: What age are we in heaven – with what sort of a face? God gives you your eyes but you gradually make your own mouth. Earlier photos show Paddy's lips as judicial and stern. As a teacher he had to compensate in gravity of personality for a slight physical presence; and compensate he did. He was respected and liked, a most effective teacher in Mungret, Clongowes and (as one of the earliest staff) Gonzaga. In the councils of staff and community his voice was calm and reasonable. When Cecil McGarry became Provincial, he looked for Paddy as his Socius because he was wise and respected, easy to get on with and of good judgment.

So he was at the Provincial's side through those tumultuous years. The job suited him in many ways. He was an easy companion and could exercise independent discretion when needs be. When a rather forward Jesuit rang Loyola looking for an appointment with the Provincial, Paddy gave him a time in late morning. The visitor asked: Does that include an invitation to lunch? No, said Paddy quietly.

It was heart trouble that forced him to give up the job of Socius with its daily quota of serious business. Physically he may not have been able for high stress. When John Guiney brought him from Loyola to St Vincent's A and B with angina, they put him to bed quickly. A priest appeared and then two doctors. Paddy promptly responded by getting a heart attack. Over the years he became a model of how to live with a wacky heart. In early 2003 we worried about his stomach aneurysm which could not be mended because the operation might kill him. On the last day of 2003 he was anointed. Three days later Mary Rickard said he was sinking. Seven days later he asked about prayers for the dying. But he bounced back.

Coming from Loyola to Manresa did not mean an abdication of intelligence. Both within the community and with the many people he helped here, you could trust him to use his head, always sage, humane, insightful. The sisters seeking the Lord in Manresa liked him because he reflected assurance, a known way of proceeding, and a calm judgment. Many still remember his pithy, succinct homilies.

He did not sit lightly to the sillier aspects of media culture, such as pop music, designer stubble, or phrases like: Go with the feeling. His sense of irony carried him through such inanities – and through the bandying of religious jargon - without becoming grumpy; he could be teased about them. There were other changes which he accepted but suffered, such as the reshaping of the Manresa community chapel: he would have liked fewer windows, more pictures, a crucifix and sanctuary lamp. He did not relish the sharing of reflections and experiences at concelebrated Mass. But he was there every day.

In Cherryfield people remarked on Paddy's clarity of mind and the tenacity with which he held on to life. When one of the brethren brought over blue and orange shirts from his room, Paddy thanked him for the blue but queried the orange: I thought I mentioned a beige shirt. Up to the day of his death he was bubbling with enquiries about the Province and life outside.

In 2004 he left this note to his Rector, to be opened when I die:

Paul, I would wish that the homily at my funeral Mass be short, i.e. three and a half to four minutes - no more. I was a small man, so there is no need to make me seem bigger than I am (was). Just ask the SJs and people to thank God for whatever good I may have done, and ask his pardon for all my shortcomings.
And end with Cardinal Newman's prayer: May he support us all the day long...
Thanking you for all your caring for me in my last years. Paddy.

Alas, some of these wishes were not met, because the Rector was away when Paddy died, and the touching letter lay hidden in his safe. But Dermot Mansfield's homily at the funeral did justice to Paddy in Dermot's own way, and the back of his mortuary card carries the Cardinal's prayer.

What we miss is the smiling or laughing Paddy. It is no accident that in his reading he reverted to PGWodehouse and a light-hearted view of life. He showed how to shuffle off responsibilities in this passing life, and face the beatific vision with a contented and hopeful heart.

◆ The Clongownian, 2006

Obituary

Father Patrick Meagher SJ

Fr Patrick Meagher SJ who died at Cherryfield Lodge on 7th February 2005 at the age of 87, spent three years teaching in Clongowes from 1950-1953. Born in Dublin in 1917 he entered the Society at Emo where he took his first vows in 1935. He studied in Rathfarnham, Tullabeg and Milltown Park where he was ordained in 1948. As well as Clongowes, Fr Meagher taught in Mungret, Gonzaga and Belvedere College. He also served in Manresa House where he directed Spiritual Exercises and took his final vows in 1981. May he rest in peace.

Meagher, Thomas, 1600-1640, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1740
  • Person
  • 1600-24 November 1640

Born: 1600, Cashel, County Tipperary
Entered: 19 November 1618, Mechelen, Belgium - Belgicae Province (BELG)
Ordained: 1630, Louvain, Belgium
Died: 24 November 1640, Ireland

Alias O’Meagher

Son of William Macarius and Catherine Butler. Father ordained a priest in 1616 (after mother’s death?) free from all clerical duties and supporting his family.
Thomas studied in Hungary, Ireland and Mechelen under Jesuits - 6 years at Mechelen before Entry
Fellow novice of St Jan Berchmans
Wrote a “MS Treatise de voto” which in in the Salamanca Library
1628 At Louvain, but not in 1633
1637 ROM Catalogue Teacher of Greek, Rhetoric and Poetry. Mediocre in all and fit to teach Humanities

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Son of William Macharius and Catherine née Butler. Following Catherine’s death (1615), William entered the Priesthood, and was Ordained 1616. He was exempted from duties to look after his family.
Thomas made his studies in Ireland and at Mechelen under the Jesuits before Ent there 19 November 1618 (Mechelen Novitiate Album).
He is named in a report of Robert Nugent to the General in 1640, as an eminent scholar, a pious and prudent man, well versed in Greek and Hebrew literature, and in sacred and profane history; A good Preacher.
Had prepared for the press a volume of “Inscriptions, concerning the heroes of the Old and New Testament”.
1640 Was sent with two companions to act as Chaplains in the Royal Army, and died of fever in the same year. (cf Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS; Foley’s Collectanea)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of William and Catherine née Butler
After First Vows he was sent for Philosophy to Louvain, and then in Regency showed himself a schoolmaster of ability. He returned to Louvain to study Theology and was Ordained there 1630
1630 Sent to Ireland. No account of his missionary career has survived but he was attracted by scriptural studies and was about to travel Belgium, 1640, to have a book-published when he was appointed Military Chaplain. He died that year in Ireland 24 November 1640
His father, William, on the death of his wife also became a priest

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
MAC-GUIRE, THOMAS, (sometimes called Maccharius) was educated it seems in Flanders. F. Robert Nugent reports of him in 1640, that all the Consultors (assembled to consider his degree in the Society) agreed that F. Mac-Guire was a very superior classic scholar, well versed in Greek and Hebrew Literature, and in Sacred and profane History, and a good preacher; that he had ready for the press “a volume of inscriptions, concerning the Heroes of the Old and New Testament” that the work had been much commended by those who read it in Flanders, and prays permission for its publication there. About two months later. F. MacGuire was ordered, with FF. Michael Chamberlain, and Matthew Hartegan, to attend the Royal army. This fatiguing duty brought on Fever; and I find from a postscript of a letter of the said Superior, dated the 22nd of November, 1640, that he had just received intelligence that “this upright, learned, zealous and indefatigable Missionary”, had sunk under it.

Meaney, Michael, 1889-1955, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/246
  • Person
  • 27 September 1889-28 January 1955

Born: 27 September 1889, Raheen, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1906, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 15 August 1921, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1924
Died: 28 January 1955, St John’s Hospital, Limerick

Part of the Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare community at the time of death and was on a break at Crescent College, Limerick at the time of death

by 1911 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1913 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 30th Year No 2 1955

Obituary :

Father Michael Meaney

Fr. Michael Meaney died on January 29th, 1955, in St. John's Hospital in his native Limerick, and was buried from the Crescent, where he had been at school and where he had later laboured, in Church and College, for many years. He had gone to Limerick for a short rest, hoping to find relief from a skin affection, but almost at once he took ill, and after a few weeks died. His funeral, one of the largest seen at the Crescent Church, was a remarkable tribute to a man who had spent all his working life in the class-room or the school corridor.
His career in the Society was uneventful. He entered the Noviceship at Tullabeg in 1906, and did his philosophy at Stonyhurst and Louvain. As a scholastic he taught in Mungret and Clongowes, and after his Tertianship he became First Prefect in Mungret for a year, during which he made his solemn profession. Two years as Prefect of Studies in Clongowes followed, and one in the same post in Mungret. In 1928 he went to the Crescent and soon became a full-time worker in the Church, as well as teacher. In 1943 he was transferred to Clongowes where he remained until his death.
Fr. Meaney was exceptionally gifted both as a preacher and teacher, especially the latter. His own standards were high, and he exacted a high standard of work and achievement from his classes. Many boys found his insistence on hard work and accuracy a surprise, and then, for a while, a trial, before they recognised it, as almost all did in the end, as a blessing. He could be severe in his earlier years (and as Prefect of Studies he was probably too severe) and at times it required from him a considerable effort to suffer fools gladly : but, whatever his success in this, he never, even at his mellowest, could abide slovenly work or idleness. This salutary intolerance, added to his energy and extra ordinary clarity of mind, made him the phenomenally successful teacher that he was, and won for him the respect, and, in his later years, the affection of his boys. “I had studied Latin for three years before I came to Fr. Meaney's class”, said one who left school in recent years. “After three weeks with him I began to know what it was about, within four I was becoming good at it, and in less than three months I realised that here was a subject that would never cause me trouble”. Such boys learned more than Latin and English from Fr. Meaney and their mastery of difficulties with him was a lesson for life.
He was a happy, cheerful teacher, too. Although an exceptionally gifted man, he never felt any temptation to think, as he passed from class to class among the boys, that his talents were being left to rust in such work and that he was a martyr, damnatus ad bestias. Such temptations are not unknown but he found his happiness in using all his gifts splendidly in God's service in the colleges.
His literary gifts were seen to advantage in his retreats and sermons. And here also his high standards were evident. Every sermon was perfectly prepared, perfectly learned, and delivered with confidence and conviction. Some felt that occasional sermons suited him best and that his composition and style were above the ordinary congregation : this opinion could perhaps be defended, and it is certainly true that he was characteristically impatient of the criterion of “what the people like”. The best work of the Society was inspired, he thought, by a very different standard. And yet the people did appreciate his sermons greatly and admired him a preacher.
As a confessor he had much success with scrupulous penitents, and his clear, objective, sympathetic direction won him many friends who frequently returned to seek his help and advice outside confession. This, perhaps, is why he seemed to have more and closer friends among lay people than within the Society. They sought him out, but for himself he was a man of such self-reliance and strength of mind that he seldom felt the need of help from others. Yet he was an excellent community man and a splendid companion, especially on the golf-course. Here again his high standards were seen he played an excellent game and abhorred all that was slip-shod. He had no time for those who look on golf merely as an excuse for fresh air and exercise, and who are free and easy about the rules!
In the last years of his life he was called on to endure much more than most people suspected; for he never complained or spoke about himself. Very frequently he went to class after a night of sleepless suffering, and no one was ever the wiser, and his work continued at the same high level. At times it became clear that it would be dangerous for him to teach, and then it needed all the persuasion of Minister and doctor to induce him to take a rest from work. And after each recovery he worked on, sustained by his indefatigable spirit and simple piety, especially his devotion to the Rosary. It was thought he meditated daily on Our Lord's warning of the night when no man can work. But he dreaded too the evening of life when he might not be able to continue his service in the class-room. So, when God called him to his reward after a short illness, his friends saw in this a great mercy. And if any man had earned his rest, he had. May he rest in peace.

◆ The Clongownian, 1955

Obituary

Father Michael Meaney SJ

On January 29th Father Michael Meaney died in Limerick, where he bad gone for a short rest and change of air. By his death we lost one of the most remarkable teachers ever to stand in a Clongowes class-room, or indeed anywhere else.

His teaching career began in Mungret, and in 1915 he came as a scholastic to Clongowes, where he remained until 1919. He returned as Prefect of Studies for the years 1925-1927, and his third period here lasted from 1943 until his death,

Those who knew Father Meaney in his younger years will remember him as a teacher of extraordinary ability, but they will recall too a man who could be severe, and at times very severe. And if it is true that the large majority of those who studied under his ferule were most' grateful to him at examination times and in later life, even they in their mature years might be surprised at the great affection he inspired in his boys during the later period of his life. It was not that the passing years had taught him to suffer fools gladly - at all times that required on his part a heroic effort; it was not that he had lost his salutary intolerance of slip-shod work or any form of idleness; but his interests and affections had developed and broadened until they embraced completely the whole boy, and went far be yond the embryonic latinist or English scholar. Everything that concerned his pupils became of importance to him ; his ready laugh was heard more frequently on the galleries as well as in the class-room, and one had but to listen to him discuss the progress of some slower scholar, or meet him, blue with cold, returning from a Rugby match and hear his detailed commentary on the play afterwards, to realise how broad and deep his sympathies and affections were.

His success as a teacher was exceptional, and exceptional too the range of subjects he taught throughout the years. In one of his first classes in Clongowes a boy won the Medal for French in Junior Grade, in one of his last, another took first place in Latin and a scholarship in the University En rance; and in the intervening years he had taught English, History, Geography and Mathematics with like success. And this success was not limited to his cleverer pupils, who invariably acquitted themselves brilliantly; whole classes achieved extraord inarily high marks and occasionally classes whose ability was notoriously mediocre sur prised themselves and most others after a year or two with him. Nor was this suc cess confined to examinations : one had but to meet his boys to see that they had learned from him a real appreciation of the subjects he taught. But he imparted too something more important than this appreciation - the self-confidence that comes from difficulties faced and conquered and the sense of achievement and satisfaction that inevitably follows hard, honest work.

With his powerful mind, sharp and analytic, he had no time for catchwords and cant; and his vigorous character could not abide slovenliness or slip-shod work, or accept promise as a substitute for perform ance. “Catchwords and cant, slovenliness and sloppy work”_-how his slightly rasp ing voice would declaim the litany of what lie thought were the besetting evils of modern Irish life! And if any teacher sent out his boys well-armoured to meet them, it was he.

Towards the end of his life his health steadily grew worse. The broad athletic frame was as strong as ever, but the attacks of asthma from which he suffered becaine more frequent and painful. In class he was frequently seized with bouts of coughing that went on until it seemed that he must collapse. Physical effort became most difficult and the journey by stairs and galleries to the class-rooms and back was for him a via dolorosa that he steadfastly refused to shorten. “Poor Father Meaney!” a boy would say, as he came upon him, breathless and with bowed head, pausing to rest before the effort of the stairs that lead to the Serpentine.

Poor Father Meaney it is sad to think that the brave, hearty laugh is stilled, difficult to realise that his full, clear, accurate mind, so long at the service of his boys, is at rest. And how he merited that rest, and the contemplation of the Truth he loved and served so faithfully!

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Commnnity

Father Michael Meaney (1889-1955)

Born at Raheen, Ballysheedy, Co Limerick and educated at Sacred Heart College, entered the Society in 1906. He pursued his higher studies in England, Louvain and Milltown Park. On the completion of his studies, he was appointed prefect at Mungret College and the following year prefect of studies at Clongowes. In 1928 he was appointed to Crescent College where he remained fifteen years. During his stay in Limerick, Crescent College was in the process of renewing, with ever increasing success, its prestige of the olden days. Father Meaney contributed to this success in no small way by his devotion to duty as an efficient teacher. At the same time, he earned for himself the reputation of a priest unselfishly devoted to the administration of the sacraments and preaching. By the early 1940's, he had begun to suffer much from asthma and was transferred to Clongowes. At Clongowes his teaching hours had to be shortened but during those years he continued to get brilliant results from his classes, especially in Latin. He died in Limerick after a brief illness during the vacation, on 29 January, 1955.

Melzer, Augustin, 1864-1911, Jesuit brother

  • IE IJA J/1741
  • Person
  • 03 February 1864- 20 June 1911

Born: 03 February 1864, Bohemia, Czech Republic
Entered: 10 May 1886, Sankt Andrä, Austria - Austriaco-Hungaricae Province (ASR-HUN)
Final vows: 02 February 1898
Died: 20 June 1911, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia

Transcribed ASR-HUN to HIB : 01 January 1901

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was one of the Austrian Brothers who remained in Australia after the amalgamation of the Austrian and Irish Missions.
He was stationed at Kew College and he died there 20 June 1911.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Augustin Melter entered the Society 10 May 1886, and left Europe for Australia in 1888. He worked on the Northern Territory Mission as cook, carpenter and refectorian, first at Rapid Creek, 1889-90, then at the Daly River, 1890-99, and finally at Palmerston or Port Darwin, 1900-01. After the amalgamation of the two missions, he transferred to the Irish Mission.
He continued his domestic duties in the parishes of North Sydney and Norwood, as well as at Loyola College, Greenwich, St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, and finally, Xavier College, Melbourne, 1908-11.
Melzer was a carpenter by trade, and a very clever artisan. He could turn his hand to the management and repair of all kinds of machinery He also had an excellent command of English, and for a time taught in the school among the Aborigines.
Not long at Xavier College, he was struck down with illness in 1909. He was unable to do much after that, but bore his sickness with cheerfulness.

Merlin, Richard, d 1604, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1742
  • Person
  • d 18 September 1604

Entered: 15 December 1603, Tournai, Belgium - Belgicae Province (BELG)
Died: 18 September 1604, Berghe-Saint-Winoc, France - Franciae Province (BELG)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Ent 15 Decemeber 1603 Tournai; RIP 18 September 1604 Berghe-Saint-Winoc

(cf Tournay Album; Foley’s Collectanea)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ
DOB Ireland; Ent 15/12/1603 Tournai; RIP 18 September 1604 Berghe-Saint-Winoc
This appears in Foley, and has not been verified.

◆ In Old/15 (1), Old/16 and Old/18
◆ In Chronological Catalogue Sheet
◆ In CATSJ I-Y

Merritt, William B, 1914-1973, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/247
  • Person
  • 04 September 1914-25 April 1973

Born: 04 September 1914, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 09 September 1932, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1946, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1949, Holy Spirit Seminary, Aberdeen, Hong Kong
Died: 25 April 1973, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway

Part of the Mungret College, Limerick community at the time of death

Educated at Mungret College SJ

by 1939 in Vals France (LUGD) studying

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 23rd Year No 3 1948

Frs. Casey G., Grogan and Sullivan leave England for Hong Kong on 2nd July on the ‘Canton’. On the following day Fr. Kevin O'Dwyer hopes to sail with Fr. Albert Cooney from San Francisco on the ‘General Gordon’ for the same destination.
The following will be going to Hong Kong in August : Frs. Joseph Mallin and Merritt, Messrs. James Kelly, McGaley, Michael McLoughlin and Geoffrey Murphy.

Irish Province News 48th Year No 2 1973

Obituary :
Fr William Benedict Merritt (1914-1973)
Fr Willie Merritt was born in Limerick Sept. 4th 1914. After schooling with the Christian Brothers at Sexton St, he concluded his secondary course at Mungret and entered the noviceship in 1932, was ordained at Milltown Park 1946 and died in Galway while on a short visit to his younger brother during the Easter break on April 25th, 1973. For his years in the Society he had a very full life. As a junior at Rathfarnham his success at UCD led to his being allotted another year during which he secured an MA in History and the Higher Diploma in Education. He likewise had a bent for Mathematics and had musical talent, vocal and instrumental, which committed him to directing the choirs, coaching troupes of carol singers at later as a priest officiating at Missa Cantata and High Mass.
He made his Philosophy at Vals and after two years of Colleges at Belvedere he began his Theology at Milltown Park 1943; Ordination 1946; Tertianship 1947. In 1949 he was assigned to the Hong Kong Mission where he was engaged in the strenuous work of the Colleges. During this period he prepared and produced a text-book in History which is still esteemed and used in the schools of the colony.
Ill health now intervened and he was compelled to return to Ireland seriously indisposed. After some months of anxious convalescence he was again able to resume work and with congenial occupation soon became fully active.
He was appointed to assist Fr Martin in the Mission offices which was being set up in Gardiner St. in 1953. He worked very hard and for long hours at the new chores. Much of the method in the office, the setting up of the card index system, the schemes for collecting funds, were devised by Fr “Gully”. He was never happier than when he was organising a Sale of Work or a Garden Fete. In 1957 Fr Gully was asked to help Fr Dargan the Province Procurator, and went to live at Loyola. Later he became Bursar and Minister at CIR and taught Trade Union History there. His last status was back to Mungret in 1968 where he again acted as Bursar, answering to a variety of other calls likewise.
During the latter years Fr Merritt’s health again began to cause anxiety; he suffered several heart attacks from which he rallied and recovered but which compelled him to acquiesce to a quieter tempo than what had been his wont, in following a team, verbi gratia.
During the few days in Galway in April be suffered an attack which was followed in a few hours by a repetition from which he didn't survive.
The Requiem Mass in Mungret in April 27th was concelebrated by 36 priests among whom Fr Provincial was the principal con celebrant. There was a large attendance of personal friends from Limerick. His two younger brothers, Denis and Michael were the chief mourners together with his Aunt, Mrs Clohessey, who had been his second mother since his own mother had died during Willie's Juniorate and his father had died before he entered.
Those who new him will remember him with affection; his loss will be severely felt. If we could summarise his life briefly we would say that he loved the Society, that he was kind and good humoured towards all who came his way, and that he was a devoted priest. He was always good company and even though he had his leg pulled on innumerable occasions he never bore resentment. He was known affectionately as “Gully” and it is a measure of the affection with which he was regarded that even when he was “in foreign parts” it was sufficient (and habitual), to refer to him as Gully.
As he realised the condition of his health he was fearful that he would be compelled to abandon his work. He was a man of prayer and his daily Mass was a source of strength and consolation to him; he was a community man essentially, in whose company gaiety and a bantering good-humour spontaneously generated. He had his foibles, one of which particularly, his meticulous accuracy in his professional work of accountancy, was a source, on occasion, of annoyance but overall of fun at least in later narration.
This meticulousness was not captious or officious; it came from scrupulosity which affected his whole life and which at times caused him much mental distress.
He had a great love for his native city; he was catholic in his interest in games and the fortunes of the city soccer team he followed with zest.
He was buried as he would desire at Mungret which he loved. As I stood at the grave-side listening to the final prayers being recited by Fr Provincial I couldn't help feeling he had gone to the Lord with full hands. RIP

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1974

Obituary

Father William B Merritt SJ

Fr Willie was a Limerickman. He was born in Limerick and he is buried in Mungret. He was the eldest of three children, all boys and all three completed their school days at Mungret College.

In his younger years three influences played a part in his vocation to the Society of Jesus, family life, his participation as an altarboy in St John's Cathedral and his training in self-discipline and habits of study begun under the direction of the Christian Brothers. Mungret and later the Society of Jesus reaped where others had sown.

He entered the Society of Jesus in September 1932 and after two years novitiate, where he is still affectionately remembered as an enthusiastic “outdoor works” man he spent four years in Rathfarnham where he attended lectures in UCD. After finishing his course in UCD he left for France in September 1938 with a BA and an honours MA under his already ample belt. His philosophical studies in Vals were cut short by world war two and he finished his philosophy at St Stanislaus College, Tullamore. He then went on to teach with success at Belvedere and at that time trained some of the best junior cup teams of those years. His interest in and enthusiasm for rugby and soccer remained with him all his life; the fortunes or misfortunes of Limerick AFC were clearly read on his Monday morning face for he was the most honest and transparent of men, totally unlike the caricature of the wily Jesuit of fiction!

His ordination to the priesthood in July 1946 brought out in him that more serious side of his character which impelled him to seek “perfection” in all things. He could never be satisfied with “second-rate work” of any kind in himself or in others. He gave the next ten years of his life to the missions, working as a teacher in our college in Hong Kong. His history notes - which were clear, succinct and easily learned were published there in book form. Teachers also profited from them and a reputation for good history teaching often rested on the envied possession of Bill's notes!

Without his realising it, he made very great demands on himself. Eventually the strain of his work and the pressures of the political situation in Hong Kong under mined his health. He returned to Ireland in the early 1950s far from well, He never fully recovered his health frorn that time. Despite that, he held various posts in the Order, in St Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street, the Provincial's Residence, and the College of Industrial Relations, before he finally returned to Mungret College in 1967. Like the Master, whom he sought to follow, he did all things well and as a bonus was a good “community man” to boot! Serious by nature with a deep sense of responsibility which sometimes weighed upon him, he achieved a balance by his sense of humour, his deep faith and unostentatious acts of piety (he was a regular visitor to Our Lady's Shrine at Knock) and his interest in people and in sport. He loved Mungret and there is no denying that the decision to close his old school saddened his last years. May his generous soul rest in peace.

EK

Meskell, Joseph, 1880-1966, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1743
  • Person
  • 20 September 1880-11 August 1966

Born: 20 September 1880, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1899, Roehampton London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 20 September 1914
Final Vows: 02 February 1917
Died: 11 August 1966, London, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

by 1916 came to Tullabeg (HIB) making Tertianship

Meyrick, Thomas, 1817-1903, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1744
  • Person
  • 12 October 1817-24 September 1903

Born: 12 October 1817, England
Entered: 21 May 1846, Hodder, Stonyhurst, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1853
Died: 24 September 1903, Brescia, Italy - Angliae Province (ANG)

Came to work at Clongowes Wood College, SJ 1878-1880

Milici, Giuseppe, 1842-1869, Jesuit scholastic

  • IE IJA J/1745
  • Person
  • 21 August 1842-05 October 1869

Born: 21 August 1842, Montalbano Elicona, Messina, Sicily, Italy
Entered: 20 December 1859, Palermo Sicily Italy - Siculae Province (SIC)
Died: 05 October 1869, San Calcedonio, Malta - Siculae Province (SIC)

2nd year Novitiate at Milltown (HIB) under Luigi Sturzo following the expulsion of Jesuits from Naples and Sicily

Miller, Paul, 1892-1951, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1746
  • Person
  • 02 October 1892-11 January 1951

Born: 02 October 1892, Norwich, Norfolk, England
Entered: 07 September 1915, Roehampton, London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1925
Died: 11 January 1951, County Waterford - - Angliae Province (ANG)

Died in HIB but member of ANG

Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy, 1968-2015

  • Corporate body
  • 1968-2015

In 1880, a school of Philosophy was established by the Society of Jesus in Milltown Park, Dublin. In 1889, a school of Theology was added. In 1932, Milltown became a Jesuit ecclesiastical facility, with power to grant degrees.

In 1932, the school of Philosophy transferred to St Stanislaus College, Tullamore, County Offaly. It became a Jesuit ecclesiastical facility in 1948, however it closed in 1962, and returned to Milltown in 1966. In 1968, on the basis of these two faculties, Milltown Institute was established.

In 1974, the Congregation for Catholic Education recognised the Institute as a Pontifical Athenaeum.

In 1989, the Institute was approved for NCEA awards.

2002-2006, Milltown Institute granted awards in collaboration with the University of Wales, Lampeter.

2005-2015, the NUI Senate recognised Milltown Institute for college status.

Milltown Park, Dublin, 1858-

  • IE IJA FM/MILL
  • Corporate body
  • 1858-

The Irish Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) approached Denis Redmond of Belmont Lodge in 1858 to act as their agent and trustee in purchasing Milltown Park from Mr Calvert Stronge, City Magistrate for £4,500. In 1860, the novitiate at Milltown Park was built and Fr Aloysius Sturzo SJ (1826-1908) arrived with sixteen Jesuits novices who had been expelled from Sicily by Garibaldi. Since that time, Milltown Park has operated as a novitiate (house of first formation), retreat house, house of philosophy and theology for the Society of Jesus in Ireland.

List of Supeiors/Rectors with date of appointment:
Edmund O'Reilly, Vice-Superior, 1 September 1858;
Daniel Jones, Vice-Superior, 23 August 1860;
Joseph Lentaigne, Vice-Superior, 8 December 1863;
Aloysius Sturzo, Vice-Rector, 8 September 1865;
Aloysius Sturzo, Rector, 17 March 1866;
Charles McKenna, Mag. Nov., 12 October 1874
Edmund O'Reilly, Rector, 29 September 1875;
James Tuite, Rector, 18 January 1879;
Robert Carbery, Rector, 10 Octobr 1880;
Wiliam O'Farrell, Mag. Nov., 24 June 1882
Eugene Browne, Rector, 11 January 1884;
Nicholas Walsh, Rector, 31 July 1889;
William Sutton, Vice-Rector, 16 August 1895;
William Sutton, Rector, 1 November 1897;
William Henry, Vice-Rector, 4 August 1903;
Peter Finlay, Rector, 24 August 1905
John Conmee, Rector, 27 December 1909
Albert Power, Vice-Rector, 19 June 1910
Albert Power, Rector, 22 October 1912
Martin Maher, Rector, 28 July 1918
John Hannon, Rector, 25 April 1924
Cyril Power, Rector, 22 October 1930
John R MacMahon, Rector, 3 August 1938
Patrick Kenny, Vice-Rector, 9 September 1941
Michael O'Grady, Rector, 6 June 1947
John R MacMahon, Rector, 27 April 1953
James Corboy, Rector, 1 June 1959
Patrick Joy, Vice-Rector, 24 April 1962
Brendan Barry, Rector, 6 August 1962
Cecil McGarry, Rector, 16 August 1965;
John F Brennan, Rector, 25 July 1968;

Milner, Henry, 1908-1951, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/248
  • Person
  • 09 January 1908-30 May 1951

Born: 09 January 1908, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
Entered: 07 September 1927 - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1947, Rome, Italy
Final Vows: 05 May 1944
Died: 30 May 1951, St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland - Angliae Province (ANG)

Part of the Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin community at the time of death

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 26th Year No 3 1951

Obituary :

Died May 30th, 1951 of heart trouble in the Leeson Hospital in Dublin.
Fr. Henry Milner, or Fr. John as the Russians called him, was the youngest son of a big Yorkshire Catholic family. One of his brothers entered the Vincentians and went to China, where he was accidentally drowned near Peking just before the war. Henry and his brother Edward studied at Osterley and entered the Society, but Edward had to leave during Philosophy for reasons of health. Fr. Henry entered the novitiate at Roehampton on September 7th, 1927. Previous to going to Osterley he had earned his living as a carpenter and packer, and both these acquisitions proved most useful to him in later life. His third year of Philosophy was spent at Jersey, and it was during this time that he was accepted for the Russian Mission. In 1934 he went to Rome for Theology with a group of others from various Provinces studying for that Mission. Of those who were with him four are now dead, but Fr, Milner is the only one who died in more or less normal circumstances. His great friend Fr. Walter Ciszek of the Maryland Province died heroically on his way back from Siberia with a group of his parishioners at the end of the war. Another was gassed in Buchenwald. A third was killed on the Soviet frontier. The fourth is presumed dead in Russia. Another companion is probably still alive in a Soviet prison camp.
After his Theology in 1938 he spent a year doing special studies at the Russian College in Rome, and then was sent to a Russian parish at Esna in Estonia. He had not been there long when the Soviet troops entered the country and the British consul ordered all Britishers to leave the country. The only possible route was through Russia, so he joined a group which went to Moscow and down to the Black Sea and eventually to Palestine. Here he stopped to find out the wishes of superiors, suggesting that he might enlist as an army chaplain. Orders came from Rome that he should make his way to Shanghai and join Fr. Wilcock and make his Tertianship. After many adventures he managed to get to Bombay and board a Japanese ship which took him to Shanghai.
Although it was already January, 1941, and the Tertians had long ago finished the Long Retreat, superiors decided he should join them at Wubu and make his Long Retreat alone. When he returned to Shanghai in July, the building of St. Michael's College was well under way, and his experience as a carpenter and general constructor proved most valuable. He kept a vigilant eye on the contractor and his work men, who were amazed (and dismayed) to find that the Padre knew more about their jobs than they did. He would not allow any slipshod work. He himself made the altar and other things for the oriental rite chapel. There seemed to be nothing that he could not make or repair. His room was always like a workshop. Things awaiting repair were piled up everywhere which made it look rather untidy. Once when Admiral Boyd visited him he burst out laughing at the sight of the room and said he would like to get Fr. Milner for a time on board a navy ship to train him how to keep things stored tidily in a minimum of space.
When the College opened in January, 1942, there were only three Fathers, so Fr. Milner was Prefect of Studies, Minister, Procurator, full time teacher, Infirmarian, Chaplain of the nuns and doing a hundred other jobs. I have never met a man who could do so much work and seem to enjoy every moment of it. He was always cheerful and cheering up others. He had an inexhaustible fund of jokes and anecdotes, and certainly knew how to tell a good story. Often visitors would come to the College in a hurry on business, intending to stay just a few minutes, but once they got talking to him they simply could not tear themselves away. Up to five minutes before his death he was amusing the nurses with some of his wonderful stories about China.
In 1943 the Japanese put all our community into concentration camps, so Fr. Milner was sent first to Yanchow and then later to Ash camp in Shanghai. Those who were with him tell how he was the most popular man in the camps. They tried to get him to become the official representative of the camps to the Japanese, but he wisely refused. It was the strain of these two and a half years in camps which presumably caused the heart trouble which resulted in his death.
At the end of the war he took up again his old work at the College. He noticed that he had frequent light pains in his chest, but the doctors thought it was caused by stomach trouble. He took some stomach pills and carried on hiş heavy programme of work, always cheerful and never complaining. It was only in 1948, when he went to hospital on account of his pains, that the heart trouble was recognised. He was still there under treatment when the communist troops approached Shanghai. In May, 1949 superiors decided that he had better be evacuated, so he was sent with Fr. Brannigan on one of the last planes to Hong Kong. He was in hospital there for three weeks and then went by ship to England and eventually to Rathfarnham Castle in Dublin. The Columban Sisters in Ireland were training some of their Sisters for Russian work, and they had asked to have Fr. Milner near to advise them. Apart from that he was supposed to rest and recuperate, ready to join the other Fathers in the new work in America. Typical of him was that he could not just sit in his room and rest. He decided to print some badly needed music of the Russian rite, so he copied out about 600 pages by hand and had them lithographed. As a relaxation from writing music he translated from the Italian the latest book on the oriental rites, over 800 pages, helped some Russian D.P.s and did many other things for the Russian work. In his last letter to me he wrote that the music and the book were nearly finished and he could not bear the thought of having nothing to do. He had hopes that he would soon be well enough to travel to New York and help in the new Russian Centre. His health seemed to be improving, but suddenly on May 30th he had a sudden severe attack and died within five minutes.
The character of Fr. Milner is best summed up by the following incident. When plans were made for our Russian Centre in New York, Fr. General decided to put off Fr. Milner's appointment to it, for reasons of health. I consulted the other Fathers of the community and they all agreed that we should propose to Fr. General that we wanted to have Fr. Milner with us even though he were to spend the rest of his life in bed. His mere presence in the house would greatly help the morale of the community. It had become natural to us to take our problems to Fr. Milner and his solid Yorkshire common sense and good judgment usually solved them. His cheerfulness, piety, humility, devotion to the Russian work and simple obedience made his presence invaluable. He was one of the first to enter the Russian rite, at a time when it was all new and there were many serious questions as to how far we Jesuits. could adapt themselves to such a big change. We were required to drop all the customary devotional practices of the Society and take on new ones without changing our spirit. It required great adaptability and sound judgment concerning what are accidentals and what essentials, and a genuine indifference even in the intimate expressions of one's spiritual life. It was here that Fr. Milner excelled. He took no half measures and really adapted himself to the Russian customs. It is not surprising that all the Russians loved him and considered him one of themselves. One of his Shanghai companions writes: “His death is a grave loss. Fr. John was one of the most universally liked men I have ever known a wonderful personality.an endless store of energy and a tireless worker”. The Sisters of St. Columban write : “He was a model of cheerfulness. The two and a half years of invalid life must have been very trying, but he never complained. He was entirely given to souls, and his generosity combined with humility and true priestliness will always be an enduring inspiration to us”.
F Wilcock SJ, 12th June 1950

Moeller, Norman W, 1916-1994, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1747
  • Person
  • 26 February 1916-08 December 1994

Born: 26 February 1916, Cleveland OH, USA
Entered: 01 September 1936, Milford OH, USA - Chicagensis Province (CHG)
Ordained: 14 June 1949
Final vows: 02 February 1954
Died: 08 December 1994, Detroit MI, USA - Detroitensis Province (DET)

by 1980 came to Milltown (HIB) working on a University of Detroit course in University College Cork

Molloy, Peter, 1832-1857, Jesuit novice

  • IE IJA J/1748
  • Person
  • 26 December 1832-20 December 1857

Born: 26 December 1832, County Galway
Entered: 01 September 1857, Santa Clara University CA, USA - Taurensis Province (TAUR)
Died; 20 December 1857, Santa Clara University CA, USA - Taurensis Province (TAUR)

Molloy, Thomas, 1836-1894, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1749
  • Person
  • 26 January 1836-18 April 1894

Born: 26 January 1836, County Tipperary
Entered: 27 January 1858, Beaumont, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained; 1867
Final vows: 15 August 1872
Died: 18 April 1894, Collège du Sacre-Coeur, Charleroi, Belgium

by 1866 at Laval France (FRA) studying Theology 2
by 1867 at Vals France (TOLO studying
by 1868 at St Bueno’s Wales (ANG) studying
by 1870 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
by 1875 at St Wilfred’s Preston (ANG) working
by 1876 at St George’s Bristol (ANG) working
by 1890 at Charleroi Belgium (BELG) teaching

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a Teacher at Prefect at Clongowes and Tullabeg at different periods.
He studied Theology at Laval and Vals.
1869 He was sent as Minister to Galway.
He made his Tertianship at Drongen.
He worked on the Missionary Staff for a while and was based in Limerick.
1875-1876 He was working in the ANG parish at Bristol.
He then returned to Limerick where he excelled as a Confessor.
He was transferred variously to Milltown, Tullabeg and later to Dromore.
1888 He went to Belgium, and died there at the College in Charleroi 18 April 1894

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Commnnity

Father Thomas Molloy (1836-1894)

Of Co. Tipperary, entered the Society in 1858. After his ordination, he was appointed to the mission staff and was a member of the Crescent community, as missioner, from 1872 to 1874. He returned to Limerick as member of the church staff and was prefect of the church from 1877 to 1882. He was sent on loan to the Belgian's Province's College of Charleroi in 1888 as assistant prefect and English master. Here, it may be remarked that other Irish Jesuits at the period held the same position in the same school. Father Molloy remained in Belgium until his death on 18 April, 1894.

Moloney, Edmond, 1841-1925, Jesuit brother

  • IE IJA J/250
  • Person
  • 11 August 1841-25 July 1925

Born: 11 August 1841, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 15 June 1870, Sevenhill, Australia - Austriaco-Hungaricae Province (ASR-HUN)
Final Vows: 25 March 1881
Died: 25 July 1925, St Aloysius, Sevenhill, Adelaide, Australia

Transcribed : ASR-HUN to HIB 01 January 1901

Edmund Moloney, a half brother of Thomas Carroll - RIP 1938 - and Francis - RIP 1929

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He had joined the Austrian Mission at Sevenhill, and spent the best part of the rest of his life there until his death there 25/07/1925.
He was refectorian at Sevenhill.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Edmund Maloney, a half brother of Thomas Carroll, entered the Society at Sevenhill, 15 June 1870. After taking vows he remained at Sevenhill until 1877 as assistant tailor, refectorian and cook. In 1877 he was at Georgetown as cook and houseman, and in 1878, he performed similar duties at Manoora. From 1879-84 he was back at Sevenhill as assistant cook and doing housework. He returned to Manoora, 1884-86, was at Norwood in 1887, Kooringa in 1888, and in 1889 he was again at Sevenhill, where he spent the rest of his life, with the exception of 1907, when he was at Norwood.
Moloney was an active, zealous man with a powerful physique and equable temperament.

Moloney, James, 1910-1985, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/251
  • Person
  • 16 July 1910-10 October 1985

Born: 16 July 1910, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1931, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 29 July 1943, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1946, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 10 October 1985, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Clerk before entry

◆ Irish Province News 61st Year No 1 1986

Obituary
Fr James Moloney (1910-1931-1985)

Jim was born in Dublin in 1910. His vocation to the Society came indirectly from his decision to become a quantity surveyor. This brought him to Clongowes Wood in 1929 as clerk of works in the building operations that resulted in the large castellated addition to the College. While there he thought joining the Jesuits, sought advice from some of them and entered the noviceship at Emo in 1931.Then followed his degree course in Rathfarnham castle (1933-36); philosophy in Tullabeg (1936-39); a year's teaching in Belvedere; theology and ordination in Milltown Park (1940-44); finally, tertianship in Rathfarnham (1944-45). (Of the remaining 40 years of his life, 33 were spent in Belvedere; or, put in another way, 34 (including the regency year) out of his 54 years of religious life were devoted to Belvedere).
In summer 1945 he came to Belvedere as minister. The writer remembers hearing him murmur anxiously to himself: “Oh, these supplies”, as he surveyed the Mass tabella. Jim's anxiety was understandable; “supplies” called to mind the long and complicated Milltown list. However, as minister he worked smoothly and efficiently. In addition, he taught religion, which he liked, at the technical school in Parnell square. It was during these first years in Belvedere he made himself indispensable when social occasions involving ladies' committees had to be planned times when communities tend to skulk, Jim revelled in meeting people, and became widely popular This activity however always had its apostolic side, and kept on growing. In 1951, after classroom, still in Belvedere, until 1959,when he took up again for over a decade the more congenial duties of minister.
In 1970, the blow fell: Jim was a city man and felt keenly his transfer to Mungret as minister. He referred to his year there as his penitential season. His great kindness, however, is still remembered.
Much more to his taste were his six years in Manresa (1971-77). He was back in his beloved city, and so fond did he become of his new house that he had regrets about his last posting: to Belvedere as bursar (1977-'85). An obedient man, he applied himself diligently to learning the ropes. He liked his mid morning visit to the bank just opposite the Gate theatre. There was a certain brief-case-and-rolled-umbrella formality about this excursion. Another part of his daily routine was his snooze in a chair during the early afternoon, That hour was sacrosanct and medically advised for a recurrent cardiac flutter resulting from a heart attack some years before. This palpitation was premonitory: Jim knew that he was under a sentence. Those who had known him in earlier days noted that his fussiness had all but subsided, and that his occasional testiness had become rarer. His manner showed a new mellowness and contentment. At the beginning of September 1985 he went to Wexford for a holiday. Shortly after his arrival, he had a stroke, then another, a very serious one. Transferred to hospital in Dublin, he died on 10th October 1985, still unable to communicate.
Jim's life in the Society had its centre in the community, never elsewhere. A very private person, he seldom talked about himself, and then only in a passing way. At the opening of his Jubilee Mass he made known his wish to have no interventions: in these matters he was conservative. He rarely indulged in even mild disparagement of others, and remained loyal to the rectors under whom he served. He was orderly and kept to a routine: he always appeared d well-groomed. During his years of formation, his contemporaries referred to him as the Student Prince - the nickname was both descriptive and affectionate. After his death, one came to realise that, in his own unobtrusive way, he had indeed exercised an apostolate. May he rest in peace.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1986

Obituary

Father James Moloney SJ

Jim was born in Dublin in 1910. His vocation to the Society came indirectly from his decision to become a quantity Surveyor. This brought him to Clongowes Wood in 1929 as clerk of works in the building operations that resulted in the large castel lated addition to the College. While there he thought about joining the Jesuits, sought advice from some of them and entered the noviceship at Emo in 1931. Then followed his degree course in Rathfarnham Castle (1933-6); philosophy in Tullabeg (1936-'9); a year's teaching in Belvedere; theology and ordination in Milltown Park (1940 4); finally, tertianship in Rathfarnham (1944-25). [Of the remaining 40 years of his life, 33 were spent in Belvedere, or, to put it another way, 34 (includ ing the regency year) out of his 54 years of religious life were devoted to Belvedere).

In summer 1945 he came to Belvedere as minister. In addition, he taught religion, which he liked, at the technical school in Parnell Square. It was during these first years in Belvedere that he made himself indispensable when social occasions in volving ladies' committees had to be planned and hosted - times when communities tend to skulk. Jim revelled in meeting people, and became widely popular. This activity however always had its apostolic side, and kept on growing. In 1951, after six years as minister, he returned to the classroom, still in Belvedere, until 1959, when he took up again for over a decade the more congenial duties of minister.

In 1970, the blow fell: Jim was a city man and felt keenly his transfer to Murgret as minister. He referred to his year there as his penitential season. His great kindness, however, is still remembered.

Much more to his taste were his six years in Manresa (1971-77). He was back in his beloved city, and so fond did he become of his new house that he had regrets about his last posting: to Belvedere as bursar (1977-'85). An obedient man, he applied himself diligently to learning the ropes. Another part of his daily routine was his snooze in a chair during the early afternoon. That hour was sacrosanct and medically advised for a recurrent cardiac flutter resulting from a heart attack some years before. This palpitation was premonitory: Jim knew that he was under a sentence. Those who had known him in earlier days noted that his fussiness had all but subsided, and that his occasional testiness had become rarer. His manner showed a new mellowness and contentment,

At the beginning of September 1985 he went to Wexford for a holiday. Shortly after his arrival, he had a stroke, then another, a very serious one. Transferred to hospital in Dublin, he died on 10th October 1985, still unable to communicate.

Jim's life in the Society had its centre in the community, never elsewhere. A very private person, he seldom talked about himself, and then only in a passing way. At the opening of his Jubilee Mass he made known his wish to have no interventions: in these matters he was conservative. He rarely indulged in even mild disparagement of others, and remained loyal to the rectors under whom he served. He was orderly and kept to a routine: he always appeared well-groomed. During his years of formation, his contemporaries referred to him as the Student Prince - the nickname was both descriptive and affectionate. After his death, one came to realize that, in his own unobtrusive way, he had indeed exercised an apostolate.

May he rest in peace.

Moloney, Michael, 1913-1984, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/252
  • Person
  • 25 March 1913-05 June 1984

Born: 25 March 1913, Abbeyfeale, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1931, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1945, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1949, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 05 June 1984, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin - Zambiae Province (ZAM)

Part of the St Ignatius, Lusaka, Zambia community at the time of death.

Transcribed HIB to ZAM : 03 December 1969

by 1965 at Loyola Watsonia, Australia (ASL) working

◆ Companions in Mission 1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Michael Moloney on coming to Zambia wrote a short 250 word account of his life, at the end of which he put: “He arrived in Zambia in May 1967 and was attached to Mukasa Secondary School at Choma. He spent x years there. He died at xx in 19xx...May he rest in peace”. PLEASE PUBLISH NO MORE THAN IS IN THIS ACCOUNT Signed: Michael Moloney S.J. 14 April 1967.

He had had four heart attacks before this date and this might have prompted him to write his own obituary! So brief! So succinct! That was Michael! Yet he lived another seventeen years, in Zambia, fully occupied.

Michael was born on 25 March 1913 in Abbeyfeale on the border of Co. Limerick and Co Kerry. His secondary education was taken in St Michael's College, Listowel, and at the Jesuit College of Mungret. He entered the Society in Emo in 1931, pursued the normal Society studies with regency at Clongowes Wood College. He was ordained in July of 1945 at Milltown Park, Dublin and after tertianship went to Belvedere College to teach for four years. He moved to Leeson Street as minister and editor of the IRISH MONTHLY which ceased publication in 1953. From 1953 to 1959, he was attached to the College of Industrial Relations (CIR) as director of the Cana Conference which organised pre-marriage courses. These were a liberating experience for many couples whom were deeply in love and full of hope and good intentions. The spirit prevailing during courses were happy - even hilarious at times, deeply spiritual in the best sense, full of the wisest insights he could muster from wide reading and from his sympathetic and naturally optimistic temperament.

In 1959 he went to Loyola University, Chicago, USA, where he gained a degree in social and industrial relations and returned to CIR. He began to have heart attacks during these years (1961-64). For four years he went to Australia as a director of a retreat house near Melbourne.

He arrived in Zambia in 1967 to teach in Mukasa Minor Seminary for a year before being moved to St Ignatius in Lusaka. He became director in the Zambia Institute of Management and spent eleven years at Evelyn Hone College of Further Education, becoming Head of the Department of Business Studies. He retired in 1981. He was kept busy at St lgnatius helping with pastoral work, preaching, marriage counselling, writing leaflets and pamphlets on Christian values in the modern world. He was very conscientious in his work and totally dedicated to whatever work he was asked to do. He highly valued his religious life as a Jesuit and was very loyal to the Church. He loved a challenge and was always ready to take up his pen to defend the Church. He started the Kalemba Leaflets to bring out the deeper aspects of our common faith.

He was a good companion and, as well as enjoying his own talk, he could listen to others. He had certain conventions to which he held tenaciously, but he was not hidebound nor narrow. On the contrary, he loved freedom and the liberty to express every truth and facet of life as it was, or as he saw it. He was essentially logical and exact and could be impatient when undue consideration was being given to illogical and incalculable elements in human behaviour. He rejected all nonsense.

On and off during his seventeen years in Lusaka, some health symptoms occurred that slowed him up and endangered his life.

He returned to Ireland threatened with gangrene on the toe. The time he spent before and after the amputation was no more satisfactory than could be expected. There were times when he wanted to die. His lifelong sense of friendship with Christ seemed to become more vivid in that last year or so. He worked over many thoughts for the defense of the faith and these he hoped to continue publishing in Zambia in the Kalemba Leaflets. That was not to be. He was sensitively cared for in Cherryfield Lodge, the Jesuit Nursing Home in Dublin where, in the end, his death came unexpectedly on 5 June 1984.

Note from John Coyne Entry
Fr Michael Moloney writes:
‘Fr Coyne took a very keen interest in what Jesuits had done in Zambia since the coming of Frs Moreau and Torrend for whom he had a deep admiration. Admiration for people who did "great things for Christ" was a permanent attitude of his. His standard for a Jesuit was that he should be "a saint, a scholar and a gentleman" and he clearly tried to exemplify that in his own life. He was a kindly man yet at the same time a puzzle to many. Many wondered what "the real John Coyne was like" because externally he seemed to be set in a conventional spiritual mould and to be rather formal in much of his behaviour, so much so that one cannot escape the conclusion that he was a man with a conflict between his personality traits and what he considered Jesuit spirituality demanded of him. In Zambia he was faithful to his afternoon stroll during which he would meet people and through which he made some friends whose hospitality he was pleased to accept".

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Michael Moloney came to Australia as director of the retreat house at Loyola College, Watsonia, and worked with Conn Finn, 1964-66.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 59th Year No 4 1984
Obituary

Fr Michael Moloney (1913-1931-1984) (Zambia)

1931-33 Emo, noviciate. 1933-36 Rathfarnham, juniorate. 1936-29. Tullabeg, philosophy. 1939-42 Clongowes, 1942-46 Milltown, theology. 1946-47 Rathfarnham, tertianship.
1947-51 Belvedere, teaching. 1951-55 Leeson St., Minister, Ed, Irish monthly. 1955-59 Catholic Workers College, dir. Cana Conference. 1959-60 Loyola University, Chicago, stud sociology and industrial relations. 1960-63 Catholic Workers' College, lect and psychology. 1963-67 Loyola College, Watsonia, Victoria, Australia, dir. retreat-house.
From 1967 on: in Zambia. 1968-83 St Ignatius Residence, Lusaka, Zambia, dir Zambia Institute of Management (till 1970. then:) lect. Evelyn Hone College of Further Education/Applied Arts and Commerce. 1984 convalescing in Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin, after hospital treatment. Died there on 5th June 1984.

To write about someone I knew as well as Michael is surprisingly difficult, I have little interest in cataloguing the events of his life, and no inclination, or right, to reveal the inner person I came to know so well. What then can be said? As a young man in the Society (1931-47) he was very well liked; comfortable and relaxed in a rather tense era; lively and zestful for life; stalwart in his convictions and strong in their expression. He worked hard, and was always good at mastering a subject accurately and expressing it clearly. After the years of 'formation we never lived in the same community again. Our relationship was full of absences, crowned by the final departure so well described by Jean Guitton: “From the angle of the living and of those who have not yet made the great journey, the absence of the dead is more than a sorrow. It is so incomprehensible, so ironical, to see them no more, not to be able to communicate with someone who was a substantial part of one's life, and who seems to have gone away one evening in a fit of madness leaving no address....
In the close community of the early years he would be remembered for his pleasant singing of ballads like “Ivan Skivinski Skivar” or “The garden where the praties grow” on days of celebration; and indeed how he would become voluble and expansive after one glass of the unnamed wine we used to get on rustication days! He was good company; and, as well as enjoying his own talk, he could listen. He had conventions which he held to tenaciously, but he was not hidebound or narrow: on the contrary he loved freedom and the liberty to express every truth and facet of life as it was, or as he saw it. His competence on formal occasions combined well with an unfettered and untrammelled spirit at other times.
He had an orderly mind, symbolised by his very clear and firm handwriting and the way he typed his letters, with seldom a misprint and never a faded or blurred ribbon. He was essentially logical and exact, and could be impatient of undue consideration being given to the illogical and incalculable elements in human behaviour. He threw out nonsense, We often disagreed as to what constituted nonsense.
Nevertheless, during one of the most fertile periods of his life he was dealing with what might be thought of as the most illogical and irrational area of human life - sexuality. Here his sound judgement rescued him from the then conventional attitude of clerics to marriage as essentially a legal contract with rights and duties. He knew instinctively that this was an inadequate and he could not accept the sexual apparatus as some kind of mechanical device, kept in a bedside locker, to be used or not according to a complicated set of philosophical and legalistic nostrums, devised largely by the inexperienced. Hence his pre-marriage courses in the CIR were a liberating experience for many pairs in love, and full of hope and good intentions. The courses, I understand, were happy, even hilarious at times; deeply spiritual in the best sense; full of the wisest insights he could muster from wide reading and from a sympathetic and naturally optimistic temperament.
I cannot speak with any assurance of the other long period he spent in adult education, in the Evelyn Hone Institute in Lusaka, He went through some difficult times with courage and faith, and kept working hard even when he felt some degree of disapproval and a sense of being undervalued. On the whole, though, my impression was that he got satisfaction from and gave satisfaction in his work there. He did not take too kindly to the onset of old age or the intimations of mortality: he was in fact rather disbelieving of its drastic effects. Those who die young have this advantage over us, I now realise, that they come to fulfilment when still fastened to their “own best being and its loveliness of youth” (Hopkins: The golden echo), and do not have to reverse of anticlimax and slow decay to get there. About twenty years before he died he had some trouble with heart and circulation. Then he went to Australia, where he was very active in retreat-giving, and made at least one rich and lasting friendship. Off and on during the sixteen years he spent in Zambia some symptoms occurred that slowed him up and endangered his life. When he came on holiday to Ireland he took things physical quietly, On villa in Achill he showed no tendency to climb the lovely mountains, but would kindly drive me to the foot and would stay below until I returned many hours later, on one occasion to find that he had had a very serious fall from the pier at Dugort. On the last villa we spent together at Banna Strand, Co Kerry, we took little exercise, he much less than I. He was contented to mooch about the dunes when it was fine, and look long meditatively over the Atlantic to the and setting sun.
When he came back some months ago threatened with gangrene in the toe, he was a very changed man. The time he spent before and after the amputation was no more satisfactory than could be expected. There were times when he wanted to die. His lifelong sense of friendship with Christ seemed to become very vivid in this last year or so. He worked over many thoughts for the defence of the faith: these he hoped to continue publishing in Zambia, as the Kalemba Leaflets. He was sensitively cared for in Cherryfield Lodge, where in the end his death came unexpectedly. I viewed his remains in Kirwan's funeral parlour. They did not look like remains, but like him: determined, and ready to spring into animated conversation at the right stimulus. I came by chance into possession of a record of Verdi's Requiem a few days after his burial, and will I hope always enjoy thoughts of him as I listen to its gentle and its thunderous passages. May he enjoy eternal life. the years
Michael J. Sweetman

Moloney, Raymond, 1931-2017, Jesuit priest and theologian

  • IE IJA J/831
  • Person
  • 14 April 1931-26 January 2017

Born: 14 April 1931, Magherafelt, County Derry
Entered: 07 September 1950, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1963, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1968, Chiesa del Gesù, Roma, Italia
Died: 26 January 2017, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

Part of the Milltown Park, Dublin community at the time of death.

Early Education at NS Magherafelt, Co Derry, Northern Ireland; Clongowes Wood College SJ

1952-1954 Rathfarnham - Studying Arts at UCD
1954-1957 Tullabeg - Studying Philosophy
1957-1960 Crescent College SJ - Regency : Teacher
1960-1964 Milltown Park - Studying Theology
1964-1965 Paray-le-Monial, France - Tertianship at Maison La Colombière
1965-1967 Bellarmino, Rome, Italy - Studying Theology at Gregorian University
1967-1968 Trier, Germany - Diploma Course in Liturgy at German Liturgical Institute
1968-1984 Milltown Park - Teacher of Theological Dogma & Liturgy
1977 President of Milltown Institute
1983 Sabbatical
1984-1989 Nairobi, Kenya - Professor of Theology at Hekima College School of Theology
1989-2017 Milltown Park - Professor of Systematic Theology at Milltown Institute
1993 Director of Lonergan Centre
1996 Visiting Professor at Hekima College School of Theology
2001 Professor Emeritus of Theology at Milltown Institute; Director of Lonergan Centre; Writer
2015 Director of Lonergan Centre; Writer

by 1965 at Paray-le-Monial, France (GAL M) making Tertianship
by 1966 at Rome, Italy (ROM) studying
by 1968 at Trier, Germany (GER S) studying
by 1985 at Nairobi, Kenya (AOR) teaching - Hekima

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/fine-scholar-outstanding-lecturer/

‘Fine scholar, outstanding lecturer’
Jesuits, family and friends of the late Ray Moloney SJ packed into Milltown Chapel for his funeral mass celebrated by Bill Matthews SJ. Ray died on 26 January, aged 85. He was born in Belfast in 1931 and raised in Magherafelt, Co. Derry. At the age of 12 he went to Clongowes Wood College SJ and joined the Jesuits in 1950. Most of his life revolved around the Milltown Institute where he taught theology and liturgy. He spent five years on the missions in Kenya where he learnt Swahili so he could travel and celebrate Mass with the local people. He was the respected author of many theological books, and well known for his theology of the Eucharist.
Homilist Brian Grogan SJ noted that Ray’s writings on the Eucharist offered fleeting glimpses into his soul. Ray summarised his book Rediscovering the Eucharist not in terms of sacrifice, or obligation, or the Real Presence, but in terms of friendship. “In the Eucharist we already anticipate something of what our friendship with Christ will be when it comes to its full flowering in heaven. In the long run that friendship is all that matters,” he wrote.
Referring to his long academic ministry, Brian said that Ray was a “fine scholar and outstanding teacher.” This view was echoed widely by many of his former students who posted on the Irish Jesuits Facebook page. “Fond memories of learning theology from Ray Moloney. A scholar and a gentleman”, wrote Thomas Giblin. And US Jesuit James Pribek commented, “He combined fine scholarship with genuine humility and benevolence. In a group, he was usually on the edge, taking everything in and smiling. He radiated peace. May God be good to him”.
In his wide-ranging homily Brian spoke also about Ray’s life as a Jesuit, noting that his ministry in the intellectual apostolate was underpinned by a deep faith, committed prayer life and love of God. He said he lived an ascetic, almost monastic life, and a fitting symbol for that life was his breviary. “Ray leaned into the contrary wind and lived an orderly and predictable day. Some clerics, I have heard, sailed with the prevailing wind and eased up on the divine office, but not he... At the end his well-worn breviary was the only book beside his bed.”
Brian acknowledged that Ray held firmly to what some would call a more conservative theological position and was slow to relinquish beliefs that were dear to him. “But agree with him or not, he commanded your respect. He knew where he stood, and had a steely quality characteristic of his Northern Ireland roots.” He was also prepared to change and develop, something attested to in a few words from Provincial Leonard Moloney just before the final commendation. He said he had been speaking to Ray not too long before his death and Ray told him that his prayer had changed in recent times and was now much more affective than rational.
Speaking at the end of the Mass, Ray’s niece also told a revealing story about the man her family knew and loved. She remembered with fondness his visits to her home as a child and how he would let her put her feet on his shoes as he danced her round the room.
Brian concluded his homily with the following words: “In a little while we will say: ‘We shall become like God, for we shall see him as he is.’ Like Aquinas when asked by God ‘What do you want?’, Ray would have responded, ‘Teipsum, Domine. Yourself, Lord.’ ... Ray now sees God. He is enlightened, entranced, immortalised and divinised. Our Eucharist today is a thanksgiving for all that God has accomplished in our brother and friend, Ray Moloney”.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

Moloney, William, 1880-1972, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1750
  • Person
  • 27 May 1880-24 January 1972

Born: 27 May 1880, Cashel, County Tipperary
Entered: 7 September 1899, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 26 July 1914, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 2 February 1917, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia
Died: 24 January 1972, Campion College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1902 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Bill Maloney was educated at Mungret College, where he was captain of the school, and he entered the Society at Tullabeg, 7 September 1899, after graduating in arts from the Royal University of Ireland. After noviceship at Tullabeg, 1899-1901, he studied philosophy at Stonyhurst, 1901-04, theology at Milltown Park, 1911-15, and tertianship at Tullabeg, 1915-16.
He was sent to Australia and St Patrick's College in 1916, and remained there all his working life until 1968, teaching mainly physics. He was also minister, 1918-45, procurator, 1946-68, consulter, 1918-45, and spiritual father and admonitor, 1946-68. He retired from teaching in 1964. When St Patrick's College closed in 1968, he went to Campion College until his death. His presence there was valued by the scholastics.
Moloney was doyen of the province at the time of his death, a genial and lovable priest, unassuming, humble, kind and charitable, of regular religious observance. He was a person of
powerful frame, an active, vigorous, outdoor man in his earlier years, a champion handballer and an enthusiastic fisherman. He was a good teacher, not only because of his efficiency, but also because of his patience, kindness, generosity and encouragement. He was particularly good with the weaker students. For some years he was director of the Sodality of Our Lady, and his talks were well remembered for simplicity and straightforwardness. He had a deep and practical piety, never forced nor strained nor extravagant, but based firmly on truth.
Moloney was also well liked as a retreat-giver, being not eloquent, but firm and practical and having a vein of quiet humour. He adapted to the post-Vatican Church by concelebrating Mass and wearing a tie. His adaptability was helpful to those who found the changes difficult.
To look for something spectacular in Moloney would be to look in vain. His life was dedicated to the unspectacular, to the routine of daily life. Quietly, with perseverance and patience, he went through the regular pattern of each day and each year. His was a life of fidelity, to his vocation, to the duties of the present moment, and to his fellow Jesuits. In attitude he was young. What he could not understand he did not criticise, even though he sometimes marvelled.

Molony, Charles W, 1894-1978, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/249
  • Person
  • 12 October 1894-19 December 1978

Born: 12 October 1894, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1912, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1926, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1929, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 19 December 1978, Bon Secours Hospital, Dublin

Part of the St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin community at the time of death

by 1921 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1928 at Paray-le-Monial France (LUGD) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News 54th Year No 2 1979 & ◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1979

Obituary :
Fr Charles Molony (1894-1978)

On December 19th, 1978, at Bon Secours Hospital, died Father Charles Molony, SJ.
Father Charles Molony was born in Dublin on October 12th, 1894. He was baptised in the Pro-Cathedral, Marlboro Street, where he was also confirmed. His education before entering the Noviceship was received at Loreto College and Belvedere College
Father Charles Molony entered the Noviceship at Tullabeg on September 7th, 1912 where he pronounced his first Vows on September 8th 1914. After one year “home” juniorate at Rathfarnham (1914-1915) he spent five years teaching at Belvedere College. The years 1920-1923 were spent in Jersey studying Philosophy (and French). During his course of Theology at Milltown Park (1923-1927) he was ordained priest at Milltown Park on July 31st 1926 by the Archbishop of Dublin. After Theology he spent his Tertianship at Paray-le-Monial, 1927-1928. He pronounced his Final Vows in Belvedere College Chapel, in the presence of the Provincial, Father John Fahy, SJ, on February 2nd 1929.
After his return from his Tertianship he spent three years (1928 1931) in Belvedere College; from 1931-1934 he was on the Mission Staff, and stationed at Emo. From there in 1934, he was sent to Gardiner Street.
In Saint Francis Xavier's Gardiner Street, therefore, in 1934, Father Charlie Molony began the chief work of his life: he was operarius' in Gardiner Street for 42 years and “Assistant Operatius” for two years: in all from 1934 to 1978.

The following “Obituary” tributes to a devoted and zealous priest are from Father Dan Dargan SJ and Father Michael Sweetman SJ, - both fellow members of the same Community as Father Charlie Molony: Saint Francis Xavier’s, Gardiner Street, Dublin.

“That's where I was born”, he would say when the Belvedere Hotel was mentioned. Fr. Charlie Molony - he was always very insistent that his surname be spelled without an “e” - was born in 1894. For him going to school was to entail the shortest possible of journeys, merely crossing the street, first to Loreto Convent, North Great George's St., and then to Belvedere for his secondary education.
He left Belvedere in 1912 and entered the novitiate in Tullabeg, where his contemporaries included Frs Aubrey Gwynn and Eddie Bourke. From Tullabeg he went on to Rathfarnham where he spent one year before being transferred to Belvedere for a five-year stint. His three years of philosophy he spent in Jersey and from there he went to Milltown Park for theology and was ordained in 1926. He did his Tertianship in Paray-Le-Monial and then returned to Belvedere for a period of three years. He then joined the Mission and Retreat staff and was stationed in Emo for three years 1932 and 1933. From Emo he went to Gardiner St. where he was to spend the remaining forty four years of a very active life.
In the course of those years he held the positions of Director of the Men's Sodality, Director of the Children of Mary Sodality, founder Director of the Boys’ Club, founder-Director of the Girls’ Club, Director of the Pioneer club, Chaplain to a St Vincent de Paul Conference, and Chaplain to a Legion of Mary Praesidium. In addition he was most devoted to the full pastoral work of Gardiner St. Church.
He worked with enthusiasm at whatever post was assigned to him. He was deeply interested in people, prayed for them, and gave himself generously to them, attending their weddings, visiting them when they were ill, bringing them the sacraments, and going to their funerals. he was always doing things for them, especially those whose need seemed great, trying to find jobs or houses. A large family of fine girls residing in Gardiner St. had great difficulty, presumably because of the address at which they lived, in getting suitable jobs. In turn they all sought Fr Charlie’s help, and using his influence he succeeded where they had failed. Several former members of his Children of Mary Sodality tell, some gratefully, some jocosely, of his efforts at unobtrusive matchmaking on their behalf. He was a man of loyalties, and his loyalty to the Society and to Belvedere was very evident. A founder member of Old Belvedere Rugby Club he loved to talk about the Club's players and games.
He was very humble about his intellectual attainments and once when as a priest he was invited to speak to the Juniors in Rathfarnham he commenced by saying: “I have been asked to read a paper on the Sodality. But the only paper I read is the Evening Herald!” In fact this was not true. He frequently read religious magazines, and in the last years of his life was often quite distressed by articles of an avant-garde nature.
He kept going, right up to April 1978 when he underwent a serious operation, and from that on his health deteriorated steadily. In December he was admitted to the Bon Secours Hospital. He knew the end was near and was well prepared for it. Shortly before he died a nurse came into his room and said: :Is there anything you want, Fr Molony?” He was able to force an answer of just one word. “Heaven”, he replied. That word came straight from his heart.

Fr. Charles Molony – An Impression

“If your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light” (Mt. 622)
Charlie’s eye seems to me to have been sound, to a remarkable degree. His vision was simple, direct, clear and wholesome; he was a man totally dedicated and unconditionally vowed. The paradox is that, on occasion, he could confuse a simple issue inextricably! But even when in his dogged, uncompromising way, he obviously had the wrong end of the stick, he was quite incapable of anything vindictive or grudging afterwards. He was really the soul of kindness and a forgiver; it might be impossible to push him into anything, but he would gladly and cheerfully give everything. He signally lacked vanity or egocentricity.
I did not know him intimately, so this is the impression of an outsider. I’m inclined to think, but may certainly be wrong, that he did not fully disclose his feelings to anyone. He seemed to me the kind of man that neither needed, nor understood that another might need, to share his inner self with anyone but God.
As a younger priest here in St Francis Xavier’s, Gardiner Street, he was a great initiation. He started the boys’ club and girls’ club and many sections and activities with both of the main sodalities. He was an unashamed devotee of Our Lady and took an active part in the Legion of Mary. An athlete as a youth, he maintained an enthusiastic and detailed interest in sport to the end of his life. His particular interest was of course, the activities of the old Belvedere clubs. He had an immense and again - detailed knowledge of the people in the area, their marriages, employment, wanderings and deaths. He sought prayers almost daily for someone who had died. Scores of people loved and relied upon him.
It was a consolation to all of us here in St Francis Xavier’s that his mind remained lucid through the sharp decline of his last months. He was unwaveringly himself. When anyone asked did he want anything he used to reply “Yes, everything” or just “Yes heaven”.
When he almost lost the use of his voice it was quite hard to make out what he was trying to say; so Fr. Kieran Hanley chanced a “Yes” and a “No” fairly indiscriminately to his efforts. Finally leaning close to Charlie he made out that he was saying: “You are saying ‘Yes’? when it should be ‘No’ and ‘No’ when it should be ‘Yes’!
He has left behind him the image and memory of a man who kept his hand firmly on the plough for 66 years in the Society, ploughed a straight furrow, and was happy in the process.
Michael Sweetman SJ

Molony, Thady Simon, 1691-1765, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1751
  • Person
  • 26 October 1691-01 December 1765

Born: 26 October 1691, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 13 September 1708, Paris, France - Francis Province (FRA)
Ordained: 1723, Collège Louis le Grand, Paris, France
Final Vows: 02/02/1726, Corsica
Died: 01 December 1765, Nantes, France - Francis Province (FRA)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
In pencil top of p 65 Th De Malone Ent 17 September 1708; Prof 4

Second Entry- Thaddeus De Malone
1746 At Nantes Residence (FRA CAT 1746)
He taught Humanities for seven years, Philosophy for eight and Mathematics for twelve.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ
O’Molony

After First Vows he was sent to study Philosophy at Paris and then Regency at Rennes and Eu.
1720-1723 He began his studies at La Flèche for a year and then at Louis Le Grand College Paris, where he was Ordained 1723
1724-1725 Made Tertianship at Rouen
1725-1757 For the next thirty-four years he held important teaching posts in FRA, in Philosophy, Mathematics and Hydrography : Teaching Philosophy at Quimper, Rouen and Paris (1725-1733); Prefect of Studies for the Juniorate (1733-1734); Teaching Mathematics at Paris (1734-1735); Teaching Mathermatics at Compiègne (1735-1736).
1736-1757 Sent to teach Hydrography at Nantes.
1757 Retired from teaching and was a Spiritual Father at Nantes until the dissolution of the Society in France 1761/62. His name then disappears from records

By 1736 had had regularly been mentioned as a possible Rector of Irish College Poitiers, but his name disappears from Irish correspondence thereafter.

◆ CATSJ I-Y has
“Simon or Thady S, Molony or de Molony or Malone”; DOB 28 October 1690 or 1692 or 27 October 1669 or 27 October 1691 Limerick; Ent 15th or 3rd or 13 September 1708; FV 02 February 1725 or 1726 Quimper;
1711 At Paris College
1714-1717 At Rennes College (FRA)
1720 At Eu College FRA teaching Grammar, Humanities and Philosophy. Best talent distinguished judgement, Grammar, Humanities, speculative sciences and fit to any office in Society
1723 At Paris College teaching Humanities
1726 Teaching Philosophy at Quimper FAR
1730 At Rouen teaching Philosophy
1734 At College of Paris teaching Philosophy
1737-1757 At Nantes teaching Hydrography (Letter of Bernard Routh 1737) and Humanities

◆ In Old/15 (1) and Chronological Catalogue Sheet

Molony, William, 1796-1886, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1752
  • Person
  • 28 August 1796-29 September 1886

Born: 28 August 1796, County Limerick
Entered: 01 May 1829, Avignon, France (GALL)
Ordained: 23 December 1820, Dublin - pre Entry
Final vows: 02 February 1846
Died: 29 September 1886, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner St, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Was already Ordained 23 December 1820 in Dublin, and had spent nine years as Priest in the Diocese, before Ent.

He Entered at Avignon, France under Father Renault.
He taught at Tullabeg and Clongowes at first.
1841-1846 He was sent to Belvedere to teach.
1846 he spent the next forty years at Gardiner St as Operarius, until his death there 29 September 1886.
He had a great reputation for sanctity, and was indefatigable in the Confessional.

Monaghan, Brian, 1825-1865, Jesuit brother

  • IE IJA J/1753
  • Person
  • 22 April 1825-08 September 1865

Born: 22 April 1825, County Meath
Entered: 07 October 1860, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare
Died: 08 September 1865, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a carpenter by trade.

Monaghan, Hubert M, 1938-2000, Jesuit brother

  • IE IJA J/637
  • Person
  • 26 November 1938-29 May 2000

Born: 26 November 1938, Hardwicke Street, Dublin
Entered: 06 April 1958, St Mary's , Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 15 August 1971, Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare
Died: 29 May 2000, Gonzaga College SJ, Dublin

by 1991 at Toronto Canada (CAN S) Sabbatical

Monahan, John, 1920-1993, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/676
  • Person
  • 08 May 1920-08 December 1993

Born: 08 May 1920, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1939, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 04 January 1956, Sydney, Australia
Final Vows: 03 December 1977
Died: 08 December 1993, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin - Australiae Province (ASL)

Part of the St Joseph’s, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1951

by 1948 at Australia (ASL) - Regency

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Seán Monahan's family attended St Francis Xavier's Church, Gardiner Street, and he received his secondary education at Belvedere College nearby. On 7 September 1939 he entered the Irish noviciate at St Mary's, Portarlington, and then did juniorate studies in arts, studying English, French, Latin and Irish, at the Irish National University, while living at Rathfarnham. He developed tuberculosis during this time and never completed the course. For the next three years he was an invalid, and the decision was made for him to go to Australia.
At the beginning of 1948 Monahan arrived in Australia and began the three year philosophy course at Loyola College, Watsonia. He was a wonderful companion with his sense of humour, his gift for mimicry and his talent for friendship. He enjoyed participating in the scholastic dramatic performances, particularly the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. He produced Iolanthe.
For regency he spent some time at St Louis School, Perth, teaching and working in the boarding house, but he found the heat did not benefit his health, so in 1953 he began theology
studies at Canisius College, Pymble. After ordination in 1956, Monahan became a member of the Australian province. Tertianship followed in 1957 at Sevenhill, SA, under Henry Johnston, his theology rector.
His first priestly appointment was to Corpus Christi College, Werribee, where he was minister, bursar, prefect of liturgy and librarian. In 1958, there were 189 diocesan students; 42 in the first year. Monahan was a good administrator, shrewd, diplomatic, and with a care for detail. His special eye for individuals was much appreciated. He soon became involved in spiritual direction and the students found him a most warm and understanding confessor. He kept contact with many of these men in later years, either as priests or laymen. He was probably one of the best known Jesuits among the Melbourne diocesan priests.
Monahan's special talent for spiritual direction became well known, so he was sent to Loyola College, Watsonia, in 1960, first as socius to the master of novices and later as master of novices. In his first year as master there were 36 novices. Monahan was a most successful and highly acclaimed novice master. Despite his obvious garishness, he understood Australian young people and the contemporary needs of the Church and Society, and initiated many sensible changes into the life of the Jesuit novice. In many ways, he was a significant turning point in the formation of Jesuits in the Australian province, and the last of the Irish novice masters. At the time of his death, 42 of his novices were still members of the Society.
Monahan spent 1971 as spiritual father to Jesuit University scholastics at the Dominican house of studies in Canberra. In 1972 he was recalled to Victoria to become rector of Corpus Christi College, Werribee. It was the last year of the college at that place, the Society handing over its administration to the diocesan clergy.
For the next two years Monahan was spiritual director to the ]suit scholastics at Campion College, and in 1976 he was appointed socius to the provincial and lived at the provincial residence, Hawthorn. Having made his mark as socius, he was given the job, in 1977, of secretary to the South East Asian assistant in Rome, Robert Rush. However, the Roman climate affected his health, and he had difficulty learning Italian, so Paul Gardiner replaced him. He returned to Australia in 1978. At this time the archbishop of Melbourne, Frank Little, asked for him as vicar for religious in the archdiocese.
On his return he took up residence at the provincial house, and was superior from 1979-85, secretary of the province, giving wise advice to the provincial, while continuing his work as spiritual director to many in Melbourne. He was a most hospitable man, and Jesuits enjoyed being invited to Power Street for some Jesuit celebration. During this time his health continued to deteriorate.
In 1993 his health improved a little and Monahan was keen to revisit Ireland. He went and stayed at Cherryfield Lodge, Milltown Park, Dublin, where he received many visitors. He related by mail that he was very happy to be in Dublin. However, his health further declined, his return to Australia was postponed, and he finally died there in December.
Monahan was much loved in the Australian province for his personal humanity and charm, his loving care of others, his encouragement and cheeriness, his sense of fun and wit. He was one of the great storytellers and was a good companion. He loved news, enjoyed being consulted and gave wise advice. Above all he engendered love of, and confidence in, the Society.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 1 1948

Fr. Peyton left for Australia on the “Mauretania” on 31st October in company with Fr. Conway, a member of the Viceprovince. Fr. Kevin Carroll, also a member of the Viceprovince, left Shannon Airport on 3rd November for New York, bound for San Francisco and Sydney. Mr. Monahan left Southampton on the “Queen Mary” on 20th November for New York; he took boat at San Francisco on 12th December for Sydney which he reached on 4th January. He will be doing his first year's philosophy at Loyola, Watsonia in the coming year.

Irish Province News 48th Year No 1 1973

A recent letter from Fr Seán Monahan, Corpus Christi College, Werribee, conveys the new that the Seminary is being replaced; “After just 50 years in Jesuit hands; the diocesan authorities have to find a buyer for a property a bit like Emo. A new Seminary is a building and though scheduled to be ready for the opening of this year on February 26th it will not in fact be ready in time. We have handed over the administration to the diocese but there will be Jesuits on the staff of the new establishment as academic and spiritual directors. It is in this latter capacity that I go there together with the present spiritual director here, Fr Paul Keenan. Altogether there will be five of us working with the same number of diocesan priests for 161 students following an 8 year course”.

◆ Interfuse No 77 : Summer 1994 & Interfuse No 82 : September 1995 & ◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1995

Obituary
John (Seán) Monahan (1920-1993)

During the six decades of my life, an unbelievable number of people have crossed my path, some friends, others mere acquaintances.

Out of this vast galaxy of people, some have shone like stars to light my way, a select few have been guiding lights that have helped me to believe in myself and to keep on course when I was in danger of losing my way or of being overwhelmed by what confronted me. These latter luminaries have exerted a colossal impact on my life, and I am ever conscious of my debt to them.

On this occasion I want to talk about one that I treasure very specially, one who died on the 8th of December last year after a life of extraordinary dedication to God and to people who needed him. He was John (Seán) Monahan, and I met him first in my last year in the seminary 1958. He had been born in Dublin, Ireland, on 8th May 1920, and had entered the Society of Jesus just prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, on 7th September 1939.

Interestingly enough, he had been ordained a priest only two years before our own group, on 6th January 1956. Because of health reasons he was sent to work in Australia where he spent over thirty years; ironically enough, for the latter part of this period he was contending quietly and courageously with a debilitating illness.

I was thinking back, as I was putting these thoughts together, about how we first met, and I can't quite recollect exactly how that meeting took place. What I do recall, however, is the fact that during the space of a few short months we established a bond that was to link us in friendship every since that time.

As I indicated earlier, I saw him as one of those luminaries who exerted a colossal impact on my life. Whether our contacts were frequent or separated by long intervals, those points at which our lives touched each other, either by letter or in person, exerted a considerable influence on me, both as a man and as a priest. All this was so profound and leaves me so indebted to him that I would like to tell you about at least a few of the riches that I derived from my friendship with Father John Monahan.

My first comment might well sound extraordinary, but I believe it to be the truth; in John Monahan I met Jesus. He was a person in whom I perceived, particularly at a time I needed it, that he really cared about me. He was unhurried as he walked with me on my journey.

There was an extraordinary warmth in him. He had a graciousness, a charm that was not artificial but from the heart. It wasn't a performance designed to impress, it was a natural outflow from his personality. Quite obviously, I wasn't the only one to have experienced this Monahan touch. From the testimonies of others ! know that he endeared himself to an incredible number of people, who were, like myself, influenced and enriched by his part in their life.

As I said, he really embodied Jesus for me, and I mean that if I were to meet Jesus, he would act towards me as John did. Related to this Christlikeness, he breathed an extraordinary inner peace. Any contact that transpired between us was characterised by this quality. There was this relaxing, disarming approach that he adopted, and it said to you in unmistakable terms, “Just be at home while you're with me”.

Had I been aware that he was going home to Ireland for a final farewell to his relatives, friends and fellow religious, I would have grasped the opportunity of saying my own good byes. Therefore, regret that I failed to say goodbye to him and to thank him for everything.

In a way, this tribute to him is a public goodbye and thanks to John for all he was for me and did to me. That is not to suggest that I have finished what I want to say about him, because there is one other comment that completes the picture, and it is this.

The most indelible and most lasting impression that I will always carry with me is that he was a great affirmer. How often, when important events occurred in my life and I let him know about them, and sometimes when I omitted to do so, through the mail would come, written in his neat and thorough way, a letter that complimented me on what I had achieved, or encouraged and supported me in what I was about to undertake.

So often in regard to this very programme he was a source of endorsement and positive comment which encouraged me to give of my best. He wouldn't hesitate to provide a suggestion, too, of how this or that might be improved, but there was always a sensitivity and enthusiasm that urged me on.

His was a caring ministry and I know from comments of other priests and people how widespread and powerful was the influence for good in their lives. Which means that the greatest kindness would be for us to emulate him and his Christlike behaviour in our daily lives. That is no easy prospect, to absorb all these great qualities of a genuine loving priest, but it would be worth the effort.

I already miss John very much; I was always aware that he was there, selflessly supporting me in the background through his suffering and by his prayer.

I thank our heavenly Father that in his providence our lives did touch each other and that I am so much the richer for that as I share these thoughts with you now.

So, to fittingly conclude these thoughts about the man who was for me my Christlike Character for 1993, I share with you a text of Scripture that John referred to often and which presumably affected his personal and priestly ministry and sustained it.

It was found highlighted in his Bible, following his death. It comes from Paul's Letter to the Colossians, chapter one, verses twenty-six to twenty-nine. As I read it, I can perceive John really reaching into the very depths of his being, and opening himself to the power of the Spirit, seeking to be a true priest - a bridge between us and the Father, in and with our Brother, Jesus.

These are the words that animated and challenged John Monahan, Priest and Member of the Society of Jesus, to be Christlike in character:
“...the mystery is Christ among you, your hope of glory. This is the Christ we proclaim, this is the wisdom in which we thoroughly train everyone and instruct everyone to make them all perfect in Christ. It is for this I struggle wearily on, helped only by his power driving me irresistibly”.

Christopher Gleeson, Riverview Australia

Montagu, Walter, 1886-1918, Jesuit priest and chaplain

  • IE IJA J/1754
  • Person
  • 7 May 1886-31 October 1918

Born: 07 May 1886, Coleraine, County Derry
Entered: 08 September 1903, Manresa, Roehampton, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1919
Died: 31 October 1918, Awoingt, Hauts-de-France, France (in war)- Angliae Province (ANG)

22nd Brigade, Royal Garrison Artillery

https://www.flintshirewarmemorials.com/memorials/tremeichion-memorial/tremeichion-soldiers/montague-walter-philip/

Montagu, Walter Philip

Walter was born on the 7th May 1886 at Portstewart near Londonderry.

David Littler Jones tells us that he was the 5th son of seven boys. Their parents were Lt Com Robert Acheson Crombie Montagu and Annie Margaret Montagu (nee McMicking), of Crowmore, Portstewart, Co Londonderry.

Walter entered the Society of Jesus in 1903 and went to St Bueno’s College, Tremeirchion in 1915 to study theology. He was ordained early so he could join the forces as an army chaplain and was attached to the 22nd Brigade, Royal Garrison Artillery. He enlisted on the 17th March 1918 and served in France. He was wounded in his thighs and taken to the 45th casualty clearing station near Avoingt on 28th October. He died of his severe wounds on the 31st October 1918, just before the end of the war.

Walter Philip Montagu left a will. The England and Wales National Probate Calendar,( index of wills and administration) includes the following entry –

” Montagu. The Rev Walter of St Bueno’s College St Asaph, temporary chaplain HM Forces died 31st October 1918 in France or Belgium. Probate London 9 July to Rev Joseph Edward Blackett clerk. effects £1,166 ..11sh ..10d

He is buried in the British Cemetery at Avoingt. His younger brother, Alexander Cyril Montagu, a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, was killed in an accidental explosion on the battleship HMS Bulwark off Skegness harbour on 26th November 1914 when over 750 crew members were killed.

Montague, Thomas, 1888-1972, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/711
  • Person
  • 26 May 1888-10 October 1972

Born: 26 May 1888, Garvaghy, County Tyrone
Entered: 07 September 1908, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 15 August 1921, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1925, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia
Died: 10 October 1972, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL 05 April 1931

by 1916 at St Aloysius, Jersey, Channel Islands (FRA) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Thomas Montague was educated by the Vincentian Fathers at St Patrick's, Armagh, 1901-08, and entered the Jesuit noviciate at Tullabeg, 7 September 1908. He completed his juniorate at the same place, but ill health forced him to begin regency at Mungret, 1911-15, completed, 1918-19. Philosophy was studied at Jersey, 1915-18, theology at Milltown Park, 1919-23, and tertianship at Tullabeg, 1923-24.
He came to Australia in 1924 and spent 1925-31 at Xavier College, Burke Hall, and was headmaster from 1927. Here he began the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, put the boys into uniform and laid out the grounds, supervising the construction of the main oval and wide shovels and spades building up the banks that surround it.
He spent a year at St Patrick's College, 1934, and except for a further few years at Burke Hall, 1937-40, spent the rest of his life at Xavier College, Barker's Road, teaching mainly mathematics and French. He was prefect of studies in 1932, then minister from 1941-53, choirmaster, 1947-62, and director of the opera for about 25 years until 1968. He continued his work in the grounds and strengthened the banks that surround the chapel and those on the south wing. He frequently had a band of unwilling workers-boys with penals. The punishment took the form of filling up barrows with soil and wheeling them to wherever he wanted them. One of his choirs won a competition in the Melbourne Town Hall and the members took it in turn to carry the trophy up Collins Street around midnight.
Montague retired from teaching in 1969. He was keen on cricket and showed endless patience in teaching small boys how to bat. He coached teams at Xavier, and in one year, the First XI. He supervised the boarders' meals three times a day for over twenty years. He was a hard worker, always willing to substitute for someone else.
His direction of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas at the college were well appreciated by all associated with them. He loved the words, music, dances and stage administration. He was a good musician and knew Gilbert and Sullivan operas well. He taught the dances, and conducted the orchestra. To his opera students he was held in high esteem, even awe. He demanded high standards of the boys, and was a hard taskmaster, but the boys learnt discipline and teamwork as well as music accomplishments. The opera productions were not a lone production. For twenty years, from 1943, Montague had the assistance of the ever efficient and reliable Eldon Hogan as Opera General Manager and Stage Manager.
Basically, Montague was shy and retiring, but could be pleasant in community He was a man of few words. In the classroom he kept boys working, in the dining room he seldom spoke, except about table courtesy, at cricket practice his comments were short and clear. When he was annoyed with boys he needed few words to correct them, usually “nonsense” or “humbug” were quite sufficient to let people know his disapproval. He was certainly well respected. In the community he showed a sense of humour and enjoyed a game of billiards, but his usual terse comments were telling. In his latter years he read much, but never a newspaper, as he considered them a waste of time. Nevertheless, he always wanted to have news of the latest cricket score. He was certainly a powerful presence in the Xavier College community for many years.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 47th Year No 4 1972

The death of Fr Thomas Montague has occurred in Australia, October 10th, RIP

Moore, Charles, 1891-1965, Jesuit brother

  • IE IJA J/1755
  • Person
  • 26 November 1891-26 January 1965

Born: 26 November 1891, Thebarton, Adelaide SA, Australia
Entered: 25 March 1930, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Final vows: 15 August 1941
Died: 26 January 1965, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Charles Moore was a hotel manager and proprietor before entering the Society at Loyola College Greenwich, 5 February 1932. He was a reluctant cook and buyer al his life in the Society, especially at Loyola College Watsonia, Canisius College Pymble and the Provincial residence.
He worked hard for many years doing different domestic duties. He was a deeply spiritual man, a happy cheerful person, with a great love of the Society and of his vocation, as well as being a robust and forthright character.
He was always sad when someone left the Society - he could not understand how it could happen. He had a high regard for poverty, and despite many years as manductor and buyer, he was exact in his use of money. He was a man of simple pleasures. For years his days off consisted of a business trip to the city, a visit to one of the Churches, a cut lunch in the park, or Mass at the Cathedral and lunch at St Patrick’s College.
He enjoyed smoking, but i later years gave it up. He was a member of the Pioneers Total Abstinence Association. He was also fond of music, and as a pianist was a good exponent of light music, tough he rarely touched the piano after he entered. He gained much pleasure from the stereogram at Power Street. He worked hard for the Indian Mission, especially the stamp unit, tearing stamps off envelopes. His happy presence at the “May Time Fair” each year we appreciated. He was a thoroughly useful and reliable person, and always good company in community. He valued the spiritual help and friendship of Henry Wilkins.
His last illness was long and painful. The large number of Jesuits at his funeral was testimony to the love and affection in which he was held.

Moore, Isaac, 1829-1899, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/254
  • Person
  • 21 May 1829-15 September 1899

Born: 21 May 1829, Newcastle, County Limerick
Entered: 05 October 1852, Amiens France - Franciae Province (FRA)
Ordained: 1865, Rome, Italy
Final vows: 02 February 1872
Died: 15 September 1899, Manresa, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia

by 1855 in Montauban, France (TOLO) studying and teaching
by 1861 at Stonyhurst, England (ANG) studying Philosophy
by 1864 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying Theology 2
by 1865 at Rome, Italy (ROM) studying Theology 3
Early Australian Missioner 1866
by 1871 at Roehampton, London (ANG) making Tertianship
by 1877 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) Min
by 1878 at St Ignatius, London (ANG) working
by 1883 at Stonyhurst, England (ANG) teaching Philosophy

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
After First Vows he was sent to Clongowes for Regency. By 1858 he was First Prefect, and was the man responsible for introducing Cricket, much to the disappointment of some of the older members.
He was then sent to Stonyhurst for Philosophy and St Beuno’s for Theology, making his third and fourth years in Rome, where he was Ordained 1865.
1866 He accompanied Joseph Mulhall to Melbourne, and he was appointed Prefect of Studies at St Patrick’s Melbourne. In addition to this work, he Preached and gave Lectures in many parts of Australia.
1870 He was sent back to Europe and made Tertianship at St Beuno’s.
1871 He was sent to Crescent in Limerick, and for some years we Prefect of Studies there and then Operarius and Teacher. He worked very hard and attracted great crowds to hear his Preaching.
1876 He was sent to St Beuno’s to teach Church History and also be Minister for a while. He was then sent to the London Residence, where he was engaged in Preaching, and was greatly admired there.
1881 He became Prefect of Philosophers at Stonyhurst and was much liked by the Scholastics.
1885 he was appointed dean of Residence at UCD.
1886 He was sent to Gardiner St as Operarius.
1888 He went back to Australia, and was associated with the Richmond and Hawthorn Missions. he died at Hawthorn 15 September 1899, and the Melbourne Mission lost one of its most able and energetic men. For many years he suffered greatly from eczema. His final illness however arose from a heart complaint. He had an operation which at first seemed successful but in fact advanced the problem, so that the news of his death surprised everyone in Melbourne.
He was a ready speaker and thought very impressive. His Retreats to the boys at Clongowes and Tullabeg were not easily forgotten.

He distinguished himself very much on one memorable occasion - the opening of Armagh Cathedral. One of the Preachers of the day disappointed and Isaac Moore was summoned by the Provincial. Ever after the Primate Dr Daniel McGettigan was wont to refer to his great courage, and the splendid manner in which he acquitted himself, notwithstanding the shortness of notice. He used to say “I can never forget it to Father Moore”.

Some of his Lectures he gave on Catholic Socialism, which he delivered in Melbourne were published in “Argus” and in a special form at the expense of the Parishioner’s Committee.

He was a brilliant conversationalist, and was much sought after in London, Melbourne and Dublin.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Isaac Moore entered the Society at St Acheul, Amiens, France, 5 October 1852, and then spent some years teaching and prefecting at Clongowes Wood College in Ireland. Philosophy studies followed, 1860-1862 at Stonyhurst, and Theology at the Roman College, 1864-1866.
In 1867 he arrived in Melbourne and St Patrick’s College, where he was Prefect of Studies. In 1860 he was recalled to Ireland and completed his Tertianship at Roehampton, England, 1870-1871. He taught and was Prefect of Studies at Crescent College Limerick, 1871-1876, and lectured in Church History at St Beuno’s, 1876-1879.
For the next three years he was engaged in pastoral work in London, attached to the Jesuit Church at Farm Street. From 1881-1885 he was prefect of Philosophers, also teaching modern languages and political economy at Stonyhurst. From 1885-1886 he was Minister at University College Dublin, and was Prefect of schools. The following three years were spent in pastoral work at Gardiner Street.
Late in life he returned to Australia, and spent one year as Prefect of Studies at St Patrick’s College, and then for the rest of his life he was involved in parish work at Richmond and Hawthorn. He was a man of wide learning and famous in his day as a preacher. He lectured also on “Catholic Socialism” and similar subjects. His retreats to boys were reported to be remarkably good. As First Prefect in Clongowes, he was said to have introduced cricket.

Note from David McKiniry Entry
As McKiniry had not yet undertaken tertianship or taken final vows, his appointment in Australia was going to be short lived, and he left for Ireland on 11 September 1870 with Isaac Moore. He did tertianship at Roehampton 1871-72 and transferred to the New Orleans province.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Isaac Moore 1829-1899
Fr Moore was born in Limerick on May 21st 1829. Even in his boyhood, his remarkable talents attracted attention. When only nineteen years of age he was elected President of the Catholic Young Men’s Association.

His priestly career was widely varied. He was appointed Prefect of Studies at St Patrick’s Melbourne in 1866. On his recall to Ireland he was assigned to the Crescent where he was in turn, Master, Prefect of Studies, Minister, Missioner and Operarius.

He was sent on loan to the English Province where he was Professor of Church History at St Beuno’s College, and later a popular preacher at Farm Street London. Having acted for some time as Prefect of Studies at Stonyhurst, he was recalled to Ireland as Dean of Residence of University College.

In 1888 he returned to Melbourne, where he laboured as lecturer and preacher till his death on September 15th 1899.

Fr Moore made his name on one very memorable occasion – the opening of Armagh Cathedral. The preacher already appointed was unable to attend. Fr Moore was summoned by the Provincial, and at very short notice undertook the task. The Primate, Dr McGettigan, ever after was wont to refer to his great courage and the splendid manner in which he acquitted himself. He used say “I can never forget it to Fr Moore”.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Commnnity

Father Isaac Moore (1829-1899)

Was born in Limerick and received into the Society at St Acheul in 1852. He made his higher studies in England and Rome where he was ordained in 1865. Even in his boyhood, his remarkable gifts had begun to attract attention. Thus, at the age of nineteen and three years before he entered the Society he was elected President of the Catholic Young Men's Society. His priestly career was widely varied: He was appointed prefect of studies at St. Patrick's, Melbourne in 1866. On his recall to Ireland, he was assigned to the Crescent, where from 1871 to 1876, he was in turn, master, prefect of studies, minister of the house, missioner or attached to the church staff. In 1876 he was sent on loan to the English Province where he was first professor of Church History in the English Jesuit theologate. From his professor's chair he was summoned to the residence at Farm St., London, where he confirmed his reputation as a preacher of rare merit at the Jesuit church. Later he was appointed prefect of studies at the English Province's house of philosophy. He was recalled to Dublin in 1882 to become dean of residence at University College, Dublin. In 1888, he returned once more to Melbourne where he was engaged in mission work and public lectures on Catholic apologetics until his death.

Moore, James, 1799-1868, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1756
  • Person
  • 25 July 1799-02 January 1868

Born: 25 July 1799, Kilrush, County Wexford
Entered: 28 November 1839, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Ordained: - pre Entry
Final vows: 15 August 1852
Died: 02 January 1868, Holy Cross College, Worcester, MA, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)

Moore, John E, 1838-1925, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/253
  • Person
  • 24 October 1835-13 February 1925

Born: 24 October 1835, Tullamore, County Offaly
Entered: 18 January 1857, Hodder, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1868
Final vows: 02 February 1874
Died: 13 February 1925, Roehampton, London, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

Moore, John J, 1858-1906, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1757
  • Person
  • 25 July 1858-27 January 1906

Born: 25 July 1858, Bellinter House, County Meath
Entered: 13 September 1873, Milltown Park (HIB for Taurensis Province - TAUR)
Ordained: 1888
Final Vows: 08 September 1893, St Stanislaus College, Tullamore, County Offaly
Died: 27 January 1906, Saint Joseph’s Church, San José, CA, USA - Taurensis Province (TAUR)

Moore, John J, 1927-2018, Jesuit priest and botanist

  • IE IJA J/822
  • Person
  • 22 April 1927-20 September 2018

Born 22 April 1927, Ballyglass, Kilmovee, County Mayo
Entered 07 September 1945, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1958, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1963, St Ignatius, Leeson Street, Dublin
Died 20 September 2018, Coptic Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia - Zambia-Malawi Province (ZAM)

Part of the Novitiate, Xavier House, Lusaka, Zambia at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ZAM : 16 May 1990

by 1960 at Münster, Germany (GER I) making Tertianship
by 1985 at Lusaka, Zambia (ZAM) teaching

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/fr-brownes-polymath-partner/

Fr Browne’s Polymath partner
While John Moore was home on leave from Zambia, he talked to Pat Coyle, Director of Communications, about his links with Fr Frank Browne, and about much else in his most unusual life. He was Professor of Botany in UCD during the 70’s. He also became a student and friend of the renowned Jesuit photographer, Fr Frank Browne. John took early retirement from his UCD chair, but the last thing he did was retire. Instead he became a Jesuit missionary and went to Africa, working in Zambia and Malawi. As in previous years, John returned to Ireland this summer to visit his family and Jesuit friends. Whilst here he watched the RTE TV documentary on Fr Browne (see story in this issue) and recalled his own special relationship with the Jesuit who was not only a famous photographer but also a heroic chaplain to Irish volunteers in World War I.
After the documentary was aired, John talked to Pat Coyle of Jesuit Communications about his life and his friendship with Fr Frank. You can listen here to the interview in which he recalls his days in UCD as Professor of Botany and shares with her a letter he’d just received from a student who’d discovered a yellow poppy on a beach in Mayo. The poppy was thought to have been lost to these shores, not having been seen for thirty years – but it’s back! He also speaks about the subsequent rewards and challenges of becoming a missionary in his late 50’s; as well as lecturing in various institutions, he mastered the complexities of the computer age and put those skills to good use. At 87 John is still full of vitality and as the IJN photo shows, he looks like a man in his sixties. There’s a reason for that too; he spoke about what keeps him young in body and soul. He returns to Africa in September, bitten by the missionary bug and refreshed by his holiday home, ready as ever to serve the Lord with a willing heart.

https://www.jesuit.ie/news/death-of-a-botanist/

Death of a botanist
The funeral Mass of Fr John J. Moore SJ took place on Monday 24 September in Kasisi Parish, Lusaka. Fr Moore, who was 91 years old, died on 20 September. Charles Searson SJ was the principal celebrant and homilist at the vigil Mass. Speaking to a packed Church he recounted the key moments of his life and the remarkable contribution he made to the Jesuits and to wider society. (Read his homily notes here).
Fr John was a native of Mayo, born in Kilmovee on 22 April 1927, and his family moved to Dublin when he was ten. He was a student at Belvedere College SJ. He joined the Jesuits in 1945, was ordained a priest in 1958, and took his final vows in 1963.
For more than twenty years Fr John was Professor of Botany in UCD. He was an elected member of the Royal Irish Academy, and an Irish government appointee to the Wildlife Advisory Council. He was awarded the Europapreis für Landespflege prize in 1982 in recognition of his work on Irish vegetation and nature conservation. As Fr Charlie noted, “Right through his academic career in Dublin John showed himself to be an outstanding academic and professor.”
In the 70’s Fr John was rector of the Monkstown community in Dublin and in 1980 he was appointed superior of the Espinal community in Gardiner St, in inner city Dublin. He also was a member of the Teams of Our Lady, a Catholic organisation which supported couples in their married life.
In 1983 Fr John took the surprising step of early retirement in order to join the Jesuit mission in Zambia. Fr Charles also noted that when he first turned up for work in the University of Zambia he showed considerable patience as he had a lengthy wait for an official appointment. But he put his computer skills (honed in 1960’s Dublin) to good use. According to Fr Charles, “there was great demand for his assistance from Ph.D students at the university, who were trying to assemble the fruits of their research.”
Fr John settled well in Zambia but he did return to Ireland from time to time. During a visit in 2016 he gave a lengthy an insightful interview to the Irish Jesuit Mission office which you can read in full here.
He also spoke to Pat Coyle, Director of Irish Jesuit Communications in 2014. In the course of that interview (listen above), Fr John talked about his early Jesuit days as a student and friend of the renowned Jesuit photographer Fr Frank Browne SJ.
Recalling his days as Professor of Botany in University College Dublin he shared a letter he had just received that summer. It was from one of his former students and he had discovered a yellow poppy on a beach in Mayo. The yellow poppy was thought to have been lost to Irish shores, not having been seen for thirty years, but it was back.
Fr John also spoke about the rewards and challenges of becoming a missionary in his late 50’s, and his work as a lecturer in various institutions in Zambia, first teaching biology and later theology.
He was 87 at the time of the interview but was still full of vitality. As the IJN photo shows he looked like a man in his sixties and there was a reason for that which became clear when he talked about what kept him young in body and soul.
The interview took place in August and Fr John returned to Zambia in September bitten by the missionary bug, and refreshed by his holiday back home. He gave four more years of fruitful service before his peaceful death last Thursday. The readings at his vigil Mass, were from Isaiah 6;1-8 ‘Whom shall I send? Who shall be our messenger?’ And Matthew 6:25-33: ‘ Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them.’ They were a fitting tribute to his life of service to others, and care for the earth.

◆ Irish Jesuit Missions : https://www.jesuitmissions.ie/news/211-john-moore-sj-mission-in-zambia

What does it mean for me to be a missionary in Zambia today?
John Moore, SJ
I came to Zambia as a missionary when I was 56, after a very fulfilling time working in the Botany Department at UCD. My “spare-time” activities during that time involved me with married couples, giving retreats and spiritual direction as well as helping in Parishes at the weekends.
When I left Ireland some of my colleagues at the University as well as the more senior students were very surprised at my decision to move to Zambia and some told me bluntly that it was a wrong decision. I was not convinced by their arguments. It seemed to me that I had done sufficient for Ireland during my 23 years at UCD. Besides, after I had spent a few days the previous year as external examiner at the Biology Dept. of the University of Zambia (UNZA), I became very aware of the needs of Zambia, especially in University education.
Since I am now 85 years old, I could hardly be called an active missionary, but I am still convinced that I am in the right place. During my 29 years “on the missions” I have seen a huge change in the Church and among the Jesuits in Zambia. When I came here all the active Jesuits were white – now almost all the Jesuits running the various Jesuit works are native Zambians or Malawians. This gives me enormous satisfaction. Is this not why we came out here? To help in the development of an indigenous church.
So, without falling into the temptation of sitting back in my old-man’s rocking chair in a self-satisfied way, I must admit that I do feel a sense of having cooperated with the Lord in doing my little bit to bring about this change.
2nd April 2012

https://www.jesuitmissions.ie/news/508-irish-men-behind-the-missions-fr-john-moore-sj

IRISH MEN BEHIND THE MISSIONS: FR JOHN MOORE SJ

The Irish Jesuit Missions continues its series of interviews with Fr John Moore SJ. From ecologist to theologian, Fr John Moore SJ takes us though his life’s story in Ireland and Zambia.
When John Moore entered the Society of Jesus’ noviciate straight from secondary school, it was customary at the time. Like the other young Jesuits who came straight from secondary school, he was assigned to study for a degree in UCD. He did first Arts but switched over to Science the following year. In his final year one of the research projects he undertook was a follow up survey of vegetation in the Dublin Mountains, which had been researched 50 years previously by the famous naturalist, Lloyd Praeger, the results being published in 1905. He was required to re-survey the parts closer to Dublin and write up the results.
After getting his B.Sc. degree he was sent to study philosophy in the Irish midlands. A few days before he left Dublin, the Fr. Provincial (who had been his Master of Novices and knew all about his scientific interests) suggested that he might look around and start work in an informal way on his Ph.D. during his spare time. He was fascinated by the vast areas of Bogland which stretched in all directions and discovered that a local bog had two very rare plants growing on it: one a rare rush never seen in Ireland before, the other one found in only one other place in Ireland. So he decided to work eventually on a Ph.D. thesis on the ‘Bogs of Ireland’.
During the holiday periods he decided to finish the re-survey of the mountain area south of Dublin, covering the whole area of Praeger’s original survey. He wrote up the results during his spare time while studying Theology at Milltown Park. He finished the job before leaving for ‘Tertianship’, the final year of Jesuit formation which focusses on deepening one’s spiritual life. He was sent to Germany for this stage of his formation, so he left the manuscript with the Professor of Botany to see it through the printing process.

Dublin Mountains’ conversations in Germany
While in Germany his paper on the “Resurvey of the Vegetation south of Dublin” appeared in print and his Professor in Dublin sent him a few reprints. These he distributed to some of the ecologists living on the European Mainland. To his surprise, a reply came back immediately from the famed German ecologist, Reinhold Tüxen. He, along with the famous French ecologist Braun-Blanquet, had been invited to Ireland after Europe began to recover from the effects of World War II. They published their results (in German) in 1952 and John had critiqued some of their work in his paper. Tüxen was extremely pleased. He wrote “Although we published our Irish material 10 years previously, nobody seems even to have read it, let alone critiqued it! “Can you visit me before you return?” Tüxen asked. And so began a long and valued relationship of scientific interests with Reinhold Tüxen.
Before John’s ordination, his Provincial casually mentioned to John that UCD (University College Dublin) had requested to have him on its staff after he had finished his Jesuit studies. “I said ‘Yes’ - is that OK for you John?” All he could say was “You are the boss! If you want me to take up the offer, that is OK by me.”
So John taught for 23 years at UCD, Botany Dept., being eventually appointed Professor and Head of Department.

In the 1970’s the Irish Government was sending quite a lot of official aid to Zambia University, financing lecturers from the Irish Universities to give courses at the University of Zambia. Fr Michael J. Kelly, SJ, a good friend of John since the novitiate, was at this time Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University in Lusaka and was much involved in arranging this government aid; he petitioned the Irish Government to finance John to come as External Examiner of the Biology Department. John accepted the offer and was very struck by the difficulties of running a third world University according to First World standards. When his work in the University was finished John stayed on for some time in order to visit the Irish Jesuit Missioners and help in their work.

A ‘road to Damascus’ moment
John returned to UCD in time to organise things for the new academic year. It was while making his annual retreat in the Jesuit retreat-house, Manresa in Dublin that it happened.
John had been 23 years in the Botany Department of UCD. He was unexpectedly overcome with a very strong feeling that he should relocate to Zambia! Having prayed over the matter, he sent a letter to the Provincial requesting to be sent to the Zambian mission. He was quite late going onto the missions at 56 years of age.
The answer he wanted arrived with one condition – that he remain working within third-level education. Fr Michael Kelly SJ (https://www.jesuitmissions.ie/news/494-a-museum-piece-or-a-hero) set about arranging a position for him at the University of Zambia and John prepared for this new phase in his life. Then with only two days to go before departure, a telegram arrived from Michael: “SOMETHING GONE WRONG WITH JOB. STOP. COME ANYWAY. STOP.”
“What should I do Fr Provincial?”. The Provincial’s consultants had all been very clear in their requirement that John remain at third level teaching. He consulted Bishop Corboy of Monze, Zambia, who was in Dublin at that time for medical treatment. “You can trust Michael Kelly’s good judgement” he advised. And, with that assurance, John set out for Zambia and a new chapter in the book of his life.

Once a professor, always a professor
The search was then on in earnest for a job in Lusaka, but it had to be in third level education. He found out that when he applied for an advertised position in Agricultural Ecology, he didn’t even get an acknowledgement of his applications. Undaunted, he took the bold step of offering himself and his expertise to the Biology Department in Lusaka University. Not as a professor, not as a salaried staff member—but just as a n ordinary demonstrator! During the following year, he was back in the lecture halls and laboratories, giving tutorials and running practical classes.
At that time, a new lecturer had been employed and she was assigned to run a rather difficult course on Ecology, Statistics and Evolution to the final year students. She became ill. So John and two others stepped up to the mark, put a course together and got the students through their exams.
His opportunistic efforts paid off and he was offered a three year professorship contract, ‘once a professor, always a professor’. The contract was duly renewed after three years.

Former biologist turned theologian
At this time, In Malawi, there were big problems at the Diocesan Major Seminary situated at Zomba in southern Malawi. A decision from Rome requested that three Jesuits be sent in from Zambia—a Rector, a spiritual father and a Dean of Studies.
The Provincial Fr Jim McGloin had two well prepared men for the first two jobs, but he had no one who would be able to take on the job of Dean of Studies. He wrote to the Provincials of all the Jesuit provinces who might have a suitable man qualified to teach theology in English, even for a year or two. At that time John was living with the Provincial and each day when John enquired of him how the search was progressing, the reply was negative. John understood the awkward position the Provincial was in, given that the request had come from Rome. But he had a solution.
His contract was up for renewal but a thought persisted. Should he retire from Biology and teach theology, work towards taking up the Dean of Studies position? He shared his thoughts: Jim was delighted! “Do you really mean that?”.“I do!” said John and so it was settled. The two others were already in Zomba and soon he was welcomed as the third man.
A few weeks remained before the next semester and John had to work very hard to prepare to teach Theology of the Sacraments to students. During the following years he also taught Scripture, both Old and New Testaments.
The Jesuit Provincial had signed two 5-year contracts with the Malawian Bishops but then the Jesuit teachers were gradually withdrawn. After two more years, John too was moved on, received by the international education authorities. Back at Ireland’s UCD, 70 was the limit for even the best preserved lecturer to function.

The influence of others
Fr Tommy Byrne SJ was his Master of Novices for two years and then was made Provincial during which time he always took an interest in John and the development of his scientific interests.
Fr Pedro Arrupe SJ and his account of the atom bomb blast at Hiroshima is the passage John likes to recommend to young men wanting to know about the Jesuits. Fr Arrupe had been a medical student before entering the Jesuits and was the master of novices in the novitiate situated on a hill outside Hiroshima far enough from the centre of the city to avoid any deaths from the blast. Since this was the first atomic blast to be exploded over a civilian target, the medical authorities had no idea of what the best treatment was for severe radiation burns. Fr Arrupe set up a clinic in the novitiate to treat the survivors suffering from severe radiation burns but he had no idea on how to treat them. He had just received a consignment of borax for his infirmary. He discovered that it was quite effective in alleviating the effects of bad radiation burns.
Man’s inhumanity to man framed Fr Arrupe’s whole character and was noted by all who met him. When, several years later, Fr Arrupe viewed the film “Hiroshima, mon amour” where the nuclear blast was replicated—a terrible flash, then awful destruction—the memory came back to haunt him and he resolved never to view it again.
The present pope is also a much admired figure. John was inspired when he read about the change that Pope Francis had experienced when he lived in very poor areas of Brazil. Upon his return he was made Bishop of Bueno Aires.

The day the unexpected occurred
Born in Kilmovee, County Mayo in Ireland, John is the eldest of two sons and two daughters. At 10 years of age the family moved to Dublin for his father’s work. He had been separated from them during his primary school years since his mother wasn’t very keen on the local school; so she had sent her son to be educated at the national school where her father was Principal. There the teaching standard was high and in fact, John Mc Grath, his grandfather, was the first Irish National School teacher to receive a University Degree from the Royal University in Dublin.
John’s secondary school years were spent very happily at Belvedere College in Dublin and was his first encounter with the Jesuits, although John didn’t experience any inclination at the time towards becoming a member of the Society of Jesus. There was a connection in the wider family: Fr Jack Kelly SJ was a first cousin.
Then the unexpected occurred when, on John’s first enclosed retreat in 6th year, Fr Eugene Ward SJ gave the retreat to the young men during their last year of college. Fr Ward had returned from the Chinese missions to study theology and be ordained priest, but he had been blocked by World War II from returning as a young priest.
One evening during the retreat, he was reminiscing about his experiences in China and mentioned the enormous opportunities there since the Chinese people were very receptive to the teachings of the Catholic Church.
Suddenly, like a flash, John was convinced that the Lord wanted him to be a Jesuit! Next day, determined to rid himself of what he felt to be a silly teenage crush on the Jesuits, he took a long walk in the rain – to no avail. He asked Fr. Ward, the retreat director, what he should do about it. “Ah interesting.” was the only reply he got, and that was all! But John could not shake the thought off. He decided to attended Mass every morning with the intention that the Lord would help him to shake off the idea. It did not work!
Next step was to run this persistent notion past the Prefect of Studies who advised John to speak with the Provincial about it. So far he had kept the idea to himself knowing that once it was shared, it would spread, which it did eventually. He confided his decision to his uncle, Fr Jack Kelly’s father, who scolded him for not informing his parents first. But John’s parents weren’t surprised at his decision to enter the Society of Jesus and were very supportive.

A lifetime’s decision finally made
It was decided—John went to Emo to begin his studies! And so the decision to become a Jesuit was partly influenced by Belvedere College, partly perhaps by his cousin Jack Kelly SJ and certainly by Fr Ward’s quiet evening musings over his experience as a missionary in China.
Ironically, at the beginning of John’s second year at Belvedere, the prefect of studies decided he should be a member of a small class studying classical Greek while the rest of the class were studying Science. His parents requested that he take Science, given his inclination towards the subject, but the Prefect was adamant. It was only a few months before the Leaving Cert Exam that the Prefect allowed him the option of writing the Science exam.; John decided to finish the Greek course. The result was that Science as a subject was not taken by him at secondary school and yet he ended up as a scientist plus theologian! The knowledge of classical Greek became very useful later on in study of Sacred Scripture—to this day, John always reads the New Testament in Greek.
Retirement in Zambia
John is now living a very busy retirement in Zambia in the novitiate for English-speaking young African men wishing to join the Jesuits. He teaches an introduction to the New Testament to novices—a challenge at times, as some hold fundamentalist ideas and expect every word in the New Testament to be ‘gospel truth’ even when taken outside of its context. John divides his time between community work, managing a large library and the Jesuit archives for Zambia.
The Irish Jesuit Missions is grateful to Fr Moore for the time and care given to his interview in July 2016 and for this ensuing article.
Author: Irish Jesuit Missions Communications, 24th November 2016

Moore, John, 1582-1652, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1758
  • Person
  • 1582-11 August 1652

Born: 1582, Duleek, County Meath
Entered: 25/04/1600, Coimbra, Portugal - Lusitaniae Province (LUS)
Ordained: c 1611, Coimbra, Portugal
Final Vows: 1624
Died: 11 August 1652, Galway Residence, Galway City, County Galway

Alias De Moura

1642 At Drogheda, and subsequently appointed Chaplain to Sir Richard Blake (Oranmore, Co Galway, Mayor of Galway twice and Parliamentarian)
1649 Superior Galway Residence
in 1650 Catalogue
He was a very learned, charitable and humble man; Superior in Connaught; Forty years on the Irish Mission, and imprisoned for the Catholic faith.
Peter Walsh in his “Remonstrance” calls him “an old venerable Jesuit and skilful exorcist” (cf Foley’s Collectanea)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1642 At Drogheda, and subsequently appointed Chaplain to Sir Richard Blake (Oranmore, Co Galway, Mayor of Galway twice and Parliamentarian)
1649 Superior Galway Residence
in 1650 Catalogue
He was a very learned, charitable and humble man; Superior in Connaught; Forty years on the Irish Mission, and imprisoned for the Catholic faith.
Peter Walsh in his “Remonstrance” calls him “an old venerable Jesuit and skilful exorcist” (cf Foley’s Collectanea)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Had studied Humanities at the Irish College Lisbon before Ent 25 April 1600 Coimbra
After First Vows - which he completed at Braga College - he was sent for studies to Coimbra (1602-1605), did regency as Minister at Irish College Lisbon companioning Thomas White, and returned to Coimbra for Theology and was Ordained there c1611
1612-1613 Spiritual Father and Confessor at Irish College Lisbon
1613/14 Sent to Ireland and Connaught Residence.
1625 He was sent to Dublin Residence to act as Master of Novices for the four priest candidates. He was later at Drogheda, but had to leave there when it fell to the Puritans in 1642
1649 His whereabouts after Drogheda are unknown, but he was Superior of the Galway residence in 1649, and he died there 11 August 1652

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
MORE, JOHN. He was living at Drogheda, in 1642, but in October that year, succeeded in escaping thence from Puritanical fury. Subsequently he was appointed Chaplain to Sir Richard Blake. When Pere Verdier visited him in the early part of the year 1649, he found him Superior of his Brethren at Galway, and reported him as being a Septuagenarian, as a man of consummate probity, and conspicuous for charity and humility. I fear it will be nearly impossible to ascertain the date of his death.

Moore, Joseph, 1914-1936, Jesuit scholastic

  • IE IJA J/1759
  • Person
  • 24 September 1914-24 September 1936

Born: 24 September 1914, Banagher, County Offaly
Entered: 30 September 1933, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Died: 24 September 1936, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 12th Year No 1 1937
Obituary :
Mr. Michael Joseph Moore
The following was kindly sent to us by Mr. Moore's old school fellow, Mr. John O'Meara :
On Thursday morning, September 24th, 1930, Mr. Joseph Moore celebrated a double birthday , the second his heavenly one. He was just twenty-two years of age, and had all the appearance of healthy strength. He had great mental vigour, and every thing seemed promising, but he had already matured for heaven.
He was born in Banagher, Offaly, 24th September, 1914. As a boy he was exceptionally studious, and exceptionally pious. He played few games, and even these rather inconsistently and indifferently well. This non-participation in games was no indication of moroseness, still less of softness. It resulted almost entirely from a desire to work hard and attain to the highest qualifications in his studies. If any other motive kept him from the playing fields of St. Joseph's College, Ballinasloe, it was the delight of bantering chat with kindred spirits on questions Irish and democratic. He was an independent and firm character with fixed ideas, though he was always open to persuasion. Those fixed ideas were mainly centred around, and resulted from, a love of his country and its inhabitants, especially the poorer ones. A list of his scholarships would almost appear too statistical for inclusion here. His secondary school course was extremely brilliant.
He entered the novitiate at Emo on September 30th, 1933, and very soon began to show how sterling and fine his character was. He set himself to the correction of any defects which he remarked in himself, or were remarked in him. with positively enjoyable zest. He was always light hearted and not infrequently rocked with uncontrollable laughter.
His career in Rathfarnham was unobtrusive and redolent of the humility and unworldliness which animated him. It was here especially that the more spiritual side of his character was evidenced. He was always cheerful and exemplary and always worked hard. But there was a sense of guilelessness, simplicity or other worldlines about him which should have told us that he was not to remain with us. The fatal disease was mysterious and rapid in its development , and he died in the most edifying sentiments of resignation, peace and devotedness. RIP

Another close friend, Mr. Kent, was good enough to contribute the following :
If I noticed one virtue more than another, unworldliness was the one which he possessed in no small degree. He was other-worldly and this even before he entered our Society. On looking back over the few years that I knew him, his simplicity of manner, his love of poverty and his deep love of Christ and His Blessed Mother only make me realise that the Master was at work on his soul, strengthening it and purifying it, so that in a short time he might reach his full stature in Christ, and answer the call that reached him faintly on the feast of Our Lady of Dolours, but clearly on that of Our Lady of Ransom, September 24th. By those who knew him well he is remembered as a man of high ideals a man of principle and high moral courage, cheerful to a very great degree, a most companionable and edifying brother.
To some it may appear that these appreciations are an outcome of the “de mortuis nil nisi bonoum” principle, and are somewhat coloured by the dictates of a sincere and holy friendship. They are not. All who knew Mr. Moore will recognise in them a true picture of the kind friend and brother who has been taken away from us.

Moore, Laurence, 1655-1684, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1760
  • Person
  • 1655-04 October 1684

Born: 1655, Ireland
Entered: 24 September 1674, Toulouse, France - Tolosanae Province (TOLO)
Ordained: 17 April 1683
Died: 04 October 1684, Irish Sea in transit to Ireland

“Laurence Poore (”Boore”) an Irish Jesuit died in the Irish Sea, Oct 1684” (From p91 E vid)
“Laurence Poore (Boore); Irish; RIP Oct 1684 in the Irish Sea

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
1684 Because of delicate health he was allowed to leave the Society. He was commended by the General to the Mission Superior in Ireland, but on his journey to Ireland he died 04 October 1684

Moore, Thomas, 1790-1863, Jesuit brother

  • IE IJA J/1761
  • Person
  • 21 December 1790-29 March 1863

Born: 21 December 1790, Duncormick, County Wexford
Entered: 31 October 1825 St Thomas, Newtown, Maryland - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 02 February 1841
Died: 29 March 1863, Georgetown College, Washington DC, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)

Morahan, Michael J, 1914-1992, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/527
  • Person
  • 18 November 1914-03 November 1992

Born: 18 November 1914, Shantalla, Galway City, County Galway
Entered: 17 September 1932, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 29 July 1943, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 19 March 1946, Holy Spirit Seminary, Aberdeen, Hong Kong
Died 03 November 1992, Mayo General Hospital, Castlebar, County Mayo

Part of the Coláiste Iognáid community, Galway at the time of death.

by 1975 at Palmer City AK, USA (ORE) working
by 1988 at Greenlawn, Long Island NY, USA (NEB) working
by 1979 at Monterey Park CA, USA (CAL) working

Moran, Francis X, d 1730, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1762
  • Person
  • d 29 March 1730

Died: 29 March 1730, Madrid, Spain - Toletanae Province (TOLE)

◆ In Old/15 (1) and Chronological Catalogue Sheet and CATSJ I-Y

Moran, James W, 1932-2016, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/816
  • Person
  • 17 August 1932-18 November 2016

Born: 17 August 1932, Ballina, County Mayo
Entered: 07 September 1951, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1964, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1967, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 18 November 2016, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the St Ignatius, Lower Leeson Street, Dublin community at the time of death.

by 1966 at Salamanca, Spain (LEG) making Tertianship
by 1978 at Wilmette IL, USA (CHG) studying
by 1984 at Palo Alto CA, USA (CAL) studying
by 1985 at Barrington IL, USA (CHG) studying
by 1987 at Menlo Park CA, USA (CAL) working
by 1992 at Chicago IL, USA (CHG) working

Early Education at NS Ballina, Co Mayo; Mungret College SJ

1954-1955 Rathfarnham - Studying at UCD
1955-1958 Tullabeg - Studying Philosophy
1958-1961 Crescent - Regency : Teacher
1961-1965 Milltown Park - Studying Theology
1965-1966 Salamanca, Spain - Tertianship at Collegio de San Estanislao
1966-1968 Belvedere - Teacher; Assistant Gamesmaster; Spiritual Father (3rd & 4th Years); “Newsboys Club”
1968-1969 Clongowes - Teacher; Lower Line Prefect; Studying CWC Cert in Education
1969-1974 Belvedere - Teacher; Assistant Gamesmaster; Spiritual Father; Career Guidance (5th & 6th Years)
1974-1976 Leeson St - Principal at University Hall, Hatch St, Dublin
1976-1977 University Hall - Community Minister
1977-1983 Chicago, IL, USA - Studies at Loyola University; St Joseph’s Parish, Wilmette, IL, USA
1982 Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Glenview, IL, USA
1983-1984 Palo Alto, CA, USA - Doctoral Studies at Palo Alto University; St Thomas Aquinas Church
1984-1986 Chicago, IL, USA - Studies at Loyola University; Parish work; Counsellor at St Anne’s Rectory, Barrington
1986-1991 Palo Alto, CA, USA - Post Graduate Training at Palo Alto University; St Raymond Catholic Church; Menlo Park
1988 Research in Family Therapy MRI at Palo Alto University
1987 Our Lady of the Rosary Rectory, Palo Alto
1991-1994 Chicago, IL, USA - Visiting Professor in Psychology at Loyola University; St William’s Church
1992 St Philip the Apostle Rectory, Northfield
1994-2016 Leeson St - Sabbatical (94-95); Lecturer in Education at Trinity College Dublin; Family Apostolate; Writer
1998 Vice-Superior
2002 Principal University Hall, Hatch St, Dublin
2003 Family Therapist
2015 Prays for the Church and the Society at Cherryfield Lodge

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/a-man-for-others/

A man for others
friends, and fellow Jesuits bade him a final farewell at his funeral Mass in Milltown Chapel on Monday 21 November.
Jim had a wide circle of friends associated with the various ventures he undertook as a Jesuit. They were active on Facebook when news of his death broke. Despite some bad health and a twice broken leg, Jim was quite an athlete. He had a passion for rugby, which he taught with gusto to many students down the years in various Jesuit schools. Ivan Morris, one of his former pupils, posted a photo of the rugby team Jim coached, a long time ago. He wrote: “55 years ago these old geezers were quite a decent rugby team! Sadly, our trainer Fr. Jim Moran passed away yesterday. We all owe him a lot. He instilled in us the ability to focus on our goals, gave us just about the right amount of confidence and enough back bone to last a lifetime.”
Similar sentiments have been echoed by many since his death. Preaching at his funeral Mass, his life-long friend Fr John Looby SJ recalled two stories that summed up Jim’s determination and desire to win, even though he would have roundly protested that ‘it wasn’t about the winning’. One concerned the handball games they used to play as novices. John said that although he himself was the better handball player, Jim worked out a strategy and a war of attrition that always resulted in Jim being the victor.
He recalled another occasion when Jim went off to Chicago to study and offered his rugby training services to a Jesuit school there, telling them of his winning accomplishments back in Ireland. His offer however was politely declined and he was told the school was already proficient at winning rugby games. So Jim took himself off to a neighbouring Jewish school where the same offer was gratefully accepted. Some time later his rugby team took on the Jesuit school that had spurned him and won.
Jim had a number of careers in his lifetime – teacher, coach, psychologist, family therapist, and finally lecturer in Trinity College Dublin. Wherever he went he made friends. “He never forgot his friends and I was to learn that his friends never forgot him,” said John, noting that this was especially true of his Jesuit brothers. John learnt in later years that Jim’s father had died before Jim was born, and his stepfather was instrumental in cultivating the talent he had for making lasting friendships. “Providentially his stepfather was a strong influence, setting an example that Jim copied for the remainder of his life. He was given great freedom and he confidently went out to meet new people and allow them into his life.”
The Gospel read at the Mass was that of the Good Samaritan, a fitting one for Jim who was, according to John and indeed all those who knew him well, “a man for others”. He was always quick to offer any help he could to those who crossed his path. Be it the mother in difficulty with her teenage son or the former student who needed some good advice. The music at the funeral was the work of the well known composer and musician Willie Hughes who played and sang in gratitude for the influence Jim had been on his life.
When he returned to Dublin from America in the ’90s, Jim was part of the Leeson St community. They had a large garden at the back-end of the large Georgian house, and Jim spent years lovingly and patiently transforming it. He planted trees and stunning rose bushes, and made arbours and boundaries out of bushes and flowers. It was a labour of love that to this day gives endless pleasure to those who visit the community house in the centre of Dublin.
John concluded by noting that Jim was a person who never saw events in life as mere chance but rather as due to “the providence of a loving God whom he loved and trusted in all his life”.
He served Him well. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 2017

Obituary

Father Jim Moran SJ

An Appreciation by Peter Thompson

dozen of us from the Rhetoric year of 1972, welcomed in by the open door of Belvedere House, manned by the great Mick Hickey, from the year of 1973and, like Ollie Campbell, one of our great Rugby players of that era, a man who had owed the nurturing of his sporting talents to the recently-deceased Jim Moran, in honour and memory of whom we had come to celebrate Mass in the Boys' Chapel. Mick had come a long way, literally, for the occasion, a testimony to Jim, certainly, for he now lives in Delaware, the beautiful peninsular State on the eastern shores of the United States.

I hadn't been in Belvedere at all since leaving the college over 40 years previously. In the Chapel, noticed immediately the absence of confession boxes, a sign (I hope) that the Sacrament of Reconciliation has moved on from its days as “Penance” to a more enlightened interpretation of what it means to feel oneself whole again after a period of mental and emotional stress.

Also different, and a most welcome difference it was too, was Leonard Moloney's model of celebration of the Mass, we old boys gathered around in a semi-circle before a simple altar table, with the Holy Communion administered in both Kinds, after a gentle invitation from Leonard that, if any of us felt awkward about receiving, We come forward anyway for a blessing.
This was an inclusiveness I was delighted to experience, after many years of alienation from the Church, and I for one was grateful indeed for it, for its sensitivity. It expressed for me also that ritual, much criticised today, has at its best a capacity to act as a means, a fuselage, a hull by which eternal truths of love are conveyed from one generation, one time as it were, to the next.
Another sensitivity was shown by the great Ollie, my childhood friend from north county Dublin, who, gentleman that he is and always has been, had gently touched my left elbow earlier in the quadrangle and asked me discreetly if I would do one of the Readings from Scripture - St Paul to the Ephesians, 1 think it was. I deeply appreciated that invitation, which I was happy to accept.

The name Jim Moran may not mean all that much to today's young Belvederians, if anything, but in a darker, much more formal time he was a beacon of warmth to his pupils and schoolboy rugby players, whom he coached to victory in the Leinster Schools' Senior Cup in 1972. It is fitting, in a serendipitous way, that in this year's edition of The Belvederian the present generation of pupils are celebrating yet another victory in that intensely competitive of sporting challenges for Leinster schools.

Jim had had earlier success in the Crescent College (now Comprehensive) in Limerick in 1961 where, as a scholastic, he coached its Junior team to success in the Munster Schools Junior Cup. After Belvedere, both Clongowes and UCD were also to benefit from his striking ability to relate to, and inspire, young people to sporting and perhaps also personal excellence. Jim was the sort of james who became jim, if my readers follow me. From the rural west of Ireland of the now so-remote 1950s, he was bereft of that bourgeois stiffness and aloofness with which, rightly or wrongly, our college was associated in the minds of many Dubliners in the past. He would have strongly approved of the wonderful example which Belvedere has shown to other private schools in recent years by the reservation of 10% of its pupil numbers to boys whose parents, for financial reasons, would never have dreamt of having one of their sons enter the portals of James Joyce's alma mater.

When last I met him, at the most recent 1972 re-union held in Portmarnock in 2012, I, trying my best with the best of intentions, invited him to have tea with me someday in the Shelbourne Hotel, around the corner from where he was then living at the Jesuit house in Lower Leeson St. to my dismay, but not, on reflection, to my surprise, he refused, saying he could not accept the offer, however sincerely made, of such a “luxury” as tea in Dublin's premier hotel. He was instructing me still, teaching again the values which I would like to think we all have in common, however we may express them now.

After Mass, the company - minus Leonard - moved on to the congeniality of the Dergvale Hotel in Gardiner Place, a very different hostelry from the Shelbourne, but a favourite watering hole of us early Seventies OBs, where I found myself in animated conversation with the said Mick Hickey about, of all things, Dublin Gaelic football, of which his distinguished medical brother David, with three Senior All Ireland Medals to his credit, was a great exemplar.

Now maybe Mick was pulling one of my legs, or indeed both of them, but he told me that David had developed a totally new strategy in Gaelic football, which is now used also, I believe, in Rugby. As a corner right forward, he would kick the ball, not towards the net, but into the right corner of the opposition, then race ahead, before the opposing defence had cottoned on. to the move, collect the ball, Garryowen-style, and lope it back into the goal mouth for a fellow teammate to collect and pummel into the net. David, apparently, developed this following on from an idea by his coach, the late Kevin Heffernan.

Mick and I were joined by another distinguished sportsman of our generation, Neil Murphy, formerly President of the Irish Sailing Association and helmsman of a Puppeteer at Howth Yacht Club. In discussing the emollient effects of the Mass we had all just experienced, Neil made a telling remark which has stayed, and will continue to stay with me. “Age gives you perspective”, he said, which I think is a piece of wisdom, deeper, much deeper than it might seem at first glance, which I wish to share particularly with the young Belvederians of today.

The mention of another great football coach brings me back of course to Jim. He lived long enough, as a man for others, always, to live in an age when, in some quarters today, that ideal, that nobility of spirit and of behaviour seems almost reviled. Yet he achieved so much, in obscurity, by practising it. I hope up there on the Fields of Elysium he will forgive me this notoriety I pen in his memory. In the best sense, he was Old School, all right

Moran, John, 1905-1991, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/677
  • Person
  • 22 July 1905-30 April 1991

Born: 22 July 1905, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 31 August 1923, Tullabeg
Ordained: 24 June 1937, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1940, Holy Spirit Seminary, Aberdeen, Hong Kong
Died: 30 April 1991, Saint Teresa's Hospital, , Hong Kong - Macau-Hong Kong Province (MAC-HK)

Part of the Wah Yan College, Kowloon, Hong Kong community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03 December 1966

Older Brother of Val Moran (ASL) - RIP 1988

Early education at Belvedere College SJ

by 1929 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1932 fifth wave Hong Kong Missioners - Regency
by 1939 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Father John Moran, S.J.
(1905-1991)
R.I.P.

Father John Moran S.J. died in St. Teresa’s Hospital on 30 April 1991 after a short illness.

Father Moran was born in Dublin, Ireland, on 22 July 1905 and educated by the Dominican Sisters and the Jesuits.

He entered the Jesuits in Ireland in 1923 and, after novitiate, university studies and philosophy, volunteered for the mission of the Irish Jesuits in Hong Kong.

He arrived in Hong Kong in the Autumn of 1931 and went to Shiu Hing, then a mission of the Portuguese Jesuits, to learn Cantonese.

The following year he was back in Hong Kong at the South China Regional Seminary in Aberdeen.

He returned to Ireland for his theological studies and was ordained priest there in 1939.

He was back in Hong Kong just before the outbreak of the Japanese war. At first he spent some time in the Aberdeen seminary and then for the rest of the war period moved to the French enclave of Kwong Chau Wan on the south coast. He remembered his years spent there as being some of the best of his life.

Recalled to Hong Kong at the end of war, he was chaplain in the Queen Mary Hospital and then went to Canton.

By the Autumn of 1949, all except four Jesuits withdrew from Canton. Father Moran taught for a while at a feeder school for Wah Yan College in Nelson Street, Kowloon. He then took over editorship of the Far East Messenger, a monthly magazine started by Father Terence Sheridan SJ. It ceased publication in 1953.

In 1952 Father Moran moved to the newly-built Wah Yan College on Waterloo Road. The room he moved into he was to occupy for the next 39 years until his death.

He joined the teaching staff and continued to teach long after his official retirement.

Father Moran is particularly remembered for his gentleness and kindness to all and for the hospitality he extended to visitors.

He spent many hours hearing confessions, being in his confessional at practically every Mass said in St. Ignatius Chapel.

His simplicity of life was legendary among his fellow-Jesuits.

A few years ago he suffered a stroke which severely impaired his memory. A few days before his death he was admitted to St. Teresa’s Hospital with breathing problems.

A funeral Mass, presided over by Cardinal Wu, was celebrated at Wah Yan Kowloon on 6 May.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 10 May 1991

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 22nd Year No 1 1947

Departures for Mission Fields in 1946 :
4th January : Frs. P. J. O'Brien and Walsh, to North Rhodesia
25th January: Frs. C. Egan, Foley, Garland, Howatson, Morahan, Sheridan, Turner, to Hong Kong
25th July: Fr. Dermot Donnelly, to Calcutta Mission
5th August: Frs, J. Collins, T. FitzGerald, Gallagher, D. Lawler, Moran, J. O'Mara, Pelly, Toner, to Hong Kong Mid-August (from Cairo, where he was demobilised from the Army): Fr. Cronin, to Hong Kong
6th November: Frs. Harris, Jer. McCarthy, H. O'Brien, to Hong Kong

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1991

Obituary

Father John Moran SJ

Fr John Moran SJ died in St Teresa's Hospital, Hong Kong, on 30th April 1991, after a short illness, He was born in Dublin in 1905 and educated by the Dominican Sisters and the Jesuits (at Belvedere). He entered the Jesuits in 1923 and, after novitiate, university studies and philosophy, volunteered for the mission in Hong Kong.

He arrived in Hong Kong in the autumn of 1931 and went to Shiu Hing, then a mission of the Portuguese Jesuits, to learn Cantonese. The following year he was back in Hong Kong at the South China Regional Seminary in Aberdeen.

He returned to Ireland for his theological studies and was ordained priest there in 1939. He was back in Hong Kong just before the outbreak of the Japanese war. At first he spent some time in the Aberdeen seminary and then for the rest of the war period moved to the French enclave of Kwongchauwan) on the south coast. He: remembered his years spent there as being some of the best of his life.

Recalled to Hong Kong at the end of the war, he was chaplain in the Queen Mary Hospital and then went to Canton. By the autumn of 1949, all. except four Jesuits withdrew from Canton. Fr Moran taught for a while at a feeder school for Wah Yan College in Nelson St, Kowloon. He then took over editorship of :The Far East Messenger:, a monthly magazine started by Fr Terence Sheridan SJ. It ceased publication in 1953.

In 1952 he moved to the newly-built Wah Yan College on Waterloo Road. The room he moved into he was to occupy for the next 39 years until his death. He joined the teaching staff and continued to teach long after his official retirement.

John Moran is particularly remembered for his gentleness and kindness to all and for the hospitality he extended to visitors. He spent many hours hearing confessions, being in his confessional at practically every: Mass said in St Ignatius Chapel. His simplicity of life was legendary among his fellow-Jesuits.

A few years ago he suffered a stroke which severely impaired his memory. A few days before his death he was admitted to St Teresa's Hospital with breathing problems. A funeral Mass presided over by Cardinal Wu was celebrated at Wah Yan, Kowloon, on 6th May 1991. May he rest in peace

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, Centenary Edition 1832-1932

Life Among The Chinese : A Letter from John Moran SJ

I’ve been at Canton ever since I came out. The College belongs to the Paris Foreign Missions (Mgr. Fourquet) and is in the same property as the Cathedral, “petit séminaire”, and Bishop's house and orphanage. There are about 400 pupils, twenty per cent of whom are pagans, as are all the masters except one. . The Director of the College is a Catholic Government regulations demand that a Chinese with university degrees be at the head of every college, hence Catholic laymen can do their part for the missions in inscribing themselves as “Director”. We Jesuits teach English and have absolutely nothing to do with the running of the school. The Government unfortunately forbids religious instruction in the schools, so this is a terrible blow because our apostolic work is limited to. chats in private every evening after school hours. Thus we manage to baptise a few pagans every year, but we cannot get into contact with the great majority of the boys at all. The Catholics in two of the three hostels come to Mass daily in our little community chapel, and at present we are trying to organise regular spiritual conferences or catechism classes for them. The third hostel is wholly Catholic consisting of poor boys, admitted at half the regular fee, and these assist regularly at spiritual duties in the Cathedral.

The boys are a decent set, very friendly, and many of them, though pagans, are wonderfully "straight” and good. Indeed when we see evil among these pagans we should rather express surprise at finding the boys so naturally good, than criticise their failings, because they have not the Catholic tradition we have had for centuries, nor have they the same knowledge of sin and punishment that we have. What offers the most insuperable difficulty to conversion is the innate respect for the parents will. Many boys who studied catechism and were ready for baptism as far as knowledge of doctrine was concerned, stated to our Fathers that they could go no further, as their parents had refused permission. And there is no use advising them await their twenty-first birth day, when they can claim independence - in China the father's sway holds good till his death! You see then what difficulties we are up against-till the family stand point is changed, a huge obstacle lies between conversion and the Chinese. Our Chinese professor-a' Catholic, as is his wife “became a father” some weeks ago. The child was a girl - he was delighted - why? Because his father, who is still a pagan, had told him that he would take the child for himself if it turned out to be a boy! Just see to what lengths the father's dominion goes - he could actually claim the grandson and take it from its own father. Of course women are despised - a girl-child is considered a disappointment, perhaps a humiliation, (here, of course, I speak only of the pagans). The one desire the Chinese have is to be made happy by a boy-child who can carry on the name and assure the ancestor-worship. Woman's position in China is gradually being bettered, thanks to foreign ideas, but missioners with whom I've spoken have told me that in the country paganism and superstition have still a fast grip and that woman is just a beast of burden. If you saw the women at work, carrying loads, dragging carts by means of ropes round their arms, it would remind you of slavery as practised in Egypt centuries ago. Even at Hong Kong the ordinary thing is to see women carting gravel, etc., carrying it in two baskets at either end of a bamboo pole resting on the shoulder - the universal means of transport here.
However, in the cities literature, novels, and the cinema are doing much to modernise Chinese youth, though it does not put them on the right tracks either in great part—but certainly the emancipation of children from a too rigid' obedience to parents' wishes, and of young girls from the marriage conventions which relegate them to the state of slaves, is gradually appearing. If Priests could get into direct contact with Chinese youth great good could be done because it is wavering in its old beliefs of ancestor-worship.

Pride in their ancient civilisation is a factor with which we have to reckon too. It's strange to find that Chinese despise foreigners as regards culture. They adınıt that we are far superior to them in material civilisation, namely machinery, etc., but they hold that as regards, literature and philosophy we have far to go before we catch up on them. They even say that we are not yet at their stage of natural evolution, because we have beards, whereas they are very smooth-skinned - the culminating point it would seem in their idea of physical evolution! So where we pride ourselves on our facial appendages and say “We are more man if we own more hair”, they say that we are more barbarian! But their indifference to foreign institutions, their attitude that the foreigner can bring them nothing better than they have al ready, naturally adds one more difficulty to the work of conversion. They have got along for centuries without Christianity - what need have they of it! Won't their own religion suffice? So they argue, and among the cultured class conversions are few. Indeed in the big cities the Chinese going to the Universities frequently see that ancestor-worship and their deities give no consolation and are pure superstition, and become pagans. They practise no religion at all. In the country places among the poor, conversions are more easy to make. Catholic schools out here can do vast good.

Even though they do not convert many boys, they do much to spread the knowledge of the Catholic Church among those who are to hold official positions in the China of to-morrow, and who will be ready to further the interests of the church in their districts.

You asked me about bandits. Well, I am afraid that I have never got an invitation to dinner with them; so that my knowledge of them is very limited. But they exist in small armies of over one thousand strong and swoop down on towns, pillaging and robbing. They are even armed in some districts with machine guns and the most modern rifles, and the military are not too anxious to disturb them when they are not too active. In fact there are only a few divisions of the whole Chinese army which are really feared by the bandits. But I would not blame the military for their policy of “letting sleeping dogs lie”. Just consider the enormous expenses a campaign against a few thousand well armed and well-organised bandits would entail-adding that the latter run off to the mountains where they could defy any army. One bandit chief had four hundred men under him and terrorised the whole district, robbing and looting. He stopped at nothing, and did not hesitate to kill where he could not get what he wanted by other means. He captured a Bishop and a Priest and had decided, I think, to hold them to ransom, till, to his surprise he found the village he and his 400 men were in, surrounded by military. He asked the Bishop to go as mediator to the commandant of the troops, but told the Bishop that if he did not return, he would kill every missioner of the Bishop's order that he would ever lay hands on in the future. Off the Bishop went with the Priest and offered the bandit's terms - which were, I think, giving up their arms and being allowed to pass out uninjured. The commandant refused and swore that not one of the 400 men would escape alive, and when the Bishop wished to return the commandant refused. On the Bishop having urged the point of his having given his word to the bandit chief, the commandant ordered him off - in the other direction, refusing to allow him approach the village. The army covered every exit from the village save one, which led to a hill. They attacked the bandits naturally seeking escape to the hill—but what was their surprise to find that the hill itself was surrounded. Seeing that all possibility of fighting was out of the question, they sent word that they would surrender if they would be allowed to join the commandant's army. “Alright”, said he, “but come down in bands of ten with your arms”. Down they came, surrendered their arms and were promptly tied up into bands of ten. The commandant waited till he had the whole lot, bandit leader and all, transferred them on rafts to the middle of the river and drowned every one of them. Since then, bandits have been quiet in his area!

But the losses they have caused in lives recently are appalling. I saw in to-day's paper that statistics from one district show that in recent Communist raids 260,000 people have been slain and property to the value of £2,350,000 has been destroyed. These Communist raids include, of course, bandit raids, and the figures from twelve other districts are to come in shortly. This will show you how banditry is rampant and how it is causing losses greater than a war. Some of the bandit chiefs are paid for their work. by very rich Chinese who get all that is stolen. It is said that some Chinese make huge sums as bandits and then come and live in Shanghai or Hong Kong as “respectable” citizens and there take in the “tribute” from the bandit chief in their pay.

A Vincentian Bishop who came out on the boat with us and whose vicariate is up north, told me that some of the bandits are “decent sorts” and don't molest the missions, but actually allow the Catholic Priests to go unharmed from place to place. The big prize that the bandits hope to get is the rich Chinese, whom they kidnap and hold to ransom for incredible sums. If the money is refused by the family, they cut off an ear of the kidnapped man and send it to the family with the intimation that they will continue to “dismember” the victim until the money is paid. Kidnapping is very frequent, and is greatly feared by the rich Chinese - so much so that their property is surrounded by huge walls on which police continually walk up and down. And even when these Chinese go out in their sedan chairs they will have their guard with them.

The Chinese seem to love exterior display - rich colouring to strike the eye and loud explosions to deafen the ears! Red is their marriage colour - white their mourning. I assisted recently at the departure of a Catholic funeral from Canton Cathedral. Just before it started off one of the mourners presented me with a handkerchief, with which to wipe the tears from my eyes. He gave one to many bystanders, who wiped their eyes - through pure convention. The coffin is carried on bamboo poles borne by six to ten men, and over it is a light bamboo framework covered with the richest coloured flowers. When I first saw a funeral here I would not believe it to be such, the colouring of the flowers was so rich. In front of the procession went the band, dressed in black hat, light blue jacket with white facings and white trousers - colours that would not be seen in Ireland except on some festive occasion.

As for noise! You have only to assist at a marriage to witness a bombardment! Crackers - or rather squibs are an essential element of their celebrations, whether civic, family, or religious. The well-to-do buy a long string of crackers lying parallel one to the other which is suspended from the fourth or fifth storey of the hotel and hangs down to the ground. When the bride leaves the hotel - or her private house to enter the sedan chair en route to the future husband's house, the lowest cracker is fired. The noise is deafening, it is like the rattle of machine-gun fire, as cracker after cracker takes fire.

According as the string of crackers fires off, it is lowered to the ground so that the exploding cracker is a few feet off the ground. For very big occasions the rich will buy a cracker that will last a quarter of an hour without ceasing fire. It is impossible to make oneself heard when in the neighbourhood, even if one shouted. Two days ago a rumour was spread of a big Chinese victory over the Japanese at Shanghai - to celebrate it crackers were the sole means used. The noise was appalling. The long string of crackers could be heard rattling froin different buildings - young fellows in cars waved flags and threw little packets of crackers which, on exploding, sent twelve smaller crackers bursting in all directions. Boys threw little boxes of squibs from the windows, till the streets were reeking with the fumes of burnt explosive material. That evening they spent over two thousand five hundred pounds on crackers alone. For religious celebrations it is the same. To welcome a bishop or to celebrate ordinations - off go the crackers, to the huge delight of the onlookers. Originally, I think, crackers were used to frighten away evil spirits, but now they have lost this “religious” significance. At Pagan burials, too, crackers are fired in this case the idea is to drive away all evil spirits from the soul of the departed.

There is great work to be done here among the poor country people. The big need, as. it has always been, is for priests. Really one does not realise how badly priests are needed till one comes out to a mission country. We in Ireland are so much in contact with the faith - we breathe it everywhere we go that we cannot imagine a people not having it. Just imagine boys who never heard of God, or of the Redemption, who have not the slightest idea what the soul is and whose one thought of the next life is to ensure for themselves that they will be paid ancestor worship by their children. You can well imagine what a unique gift we bring them when we let them know of the Redemption and lead them to baptism. How often we sing at Benediction “Laudate Eum omnes populi”, and never think that there are “populi” who do not praise Him because they have never heard of Him. The deep meaning of “Thy Kingdom Come” never struck me so forcibly as when I came into a city where there is huge scope for its coming, as it has scarcely begun to come yet.

J MORAN SJ

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